War for Peace
by 95darkmagician
Summary: Final sequel to my first story. One final battle is required for peace to be brought to the forest. San falls ill, while Ashitaka and Kaya's friendship is tested. Sakura and Syaoran find themselves in a life or death situation again, only this time their friends, Meiling and Tomoyo, are with them. Rated for violence, some brief uses of strong language and binge drinking. R&R.
1. Chapter 1: Cargo's Next Target

I do not own Princess Mononoke, Cardcaptor Sakura or any of the animes referenced in this story.

War for Peace

Chapter 1: Cargo's Next Target

Kaya yawned as she stood on the lookout post over Iron Town's gate. She placed her arms on the wall, putting one hand over the other and slumped down so her cheek was resting on her hands. "Boring, boring, boring," she sang under her breath, while checking, for probably the thousandth time, if the sun was even close to rising. She was happy to volunteer to be the night-watchman, but only because she always forgot how tedious the job was. "You could get a monkey to do this," she muttered, "Or Gonza, he's about as smart as a monkey." Her hat lay on the ground next to her. As much as she loved to wear it, she could not deny that it was just too noticeable, even in the darkness of the night.

The last three months had been like hell for everyone, human, god, or animal. Almost every spare moment had been spent preparing for Cargo's attack. Every fighter had done whatever possible to bring themselves to the very peak of their abilities, or as near to this as possible in the time allocated. Ashitaka, along with Kaya, returned to Iron Town with training routines for the warriors, designed to improve their strength, speed and skill.

Ashitaka regularly visited San who remained in the forests to help the forest gods decide on their training methods. When he was staying in Iron Town, he and his sister would work on tag team technique which they estimated, with their skill, even Cargo would struggle to counter on his own.

Kaya had been required to push herself harder in order to keep up with Ashitaka and San but never the less managed it. She now reckoned that, besides Cargo, the three of them were some of the greatest swordsmen of all time.

Her head jerked to the right as she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. "And here I was complaining that this job is boring," she muttered, watching a figure climb over the wall and jump down onto a rooftop.

Even though there was nobody watching, she decided to show off her new technique by back flipping onto a nearby house. She then quietly followed him from roof to roof. It came as no surprise when she realised he was heading for Eboshi's sleeping quarters.

The figure jumped to the ground, while Kaya climbed down, so as not to make any noise. The figure, who Kaya guessed was a man by his height and hairstyle, moved slowly towards Eboshi's house, presumably thinking he had all the time in the world.

The young princess waited until he was right in front of the door then threw a dagger into his leg. The man yelled and fell against the wooden door before crumpling to the ground.

The door to Eboshi's house opened just as Kaya was about to knock. She instantly bowed to her and said, while gesturing to the injured man, "It seems we have an uninvited guest." He was currently lying on the floor clutching his wounded leg in agony.

"I can see that," Lady Eboshi muttered.

"And I can see you've been up all night planning battle strategies again," said Kaya, noting that Eboshi was fully dressed in her day clothes, minus her coat.

Eboshi shrugged. "We need to be as prepared as we possibly can if we are to stand against Cargo," she replied as she moved to examine the man.

'If you work yourself to death you'll be doing Cargo's job for him,' Kaya thought but was too loyal to make the joke out loud.

As soon as Eboshi was close enough, the man pulled the dagger from his leg and attempted to stab her with it. Unfortunately for him, Eboshi easily avoided the attack and stabbed him with her own dagger. The man let out one last gasp before going limp.

Kaya shook her head at the man's stupid act. There had still been a chance he could have survived but even if he had killed Eboshi he never would have escaped with his injury and no doubt the people of Iron Town would have executed him for killing their leader. 'Either he's an idiot or he's so loyal he'll follow his orders at all costs.'

"His clothes seem too expensive for him to be a thief or bandit, so I'm guessing Cargo sent him," stated Eboshi.

"Then he and his other men are most likely not far behind," said Kaya.

Eboshi nodded in agreement. They both noticed that people were starting to emerge from their huts to see what the noise was about and we're clearly uneased by the dead man. "I'll tell Gonza to sound the alarm," said Eboshi.

Kaya bowed to Eboshi again. "And I'll wake Ashitaka." She ran off but paused to take the bow from the assassin's quiver.

It didn't come as much of a surprise when she saw a second assassin about to enter Ashitaka's hut. "Hey you," she yelled. The assassin turned, firing an arrow as he did. Kaya caught the arrow with ease and sent it right back. The man still had a stunned look on his face as the arrow entered his skull.

As she ran up to the hut, the door flew open and Ashitaka ran out. A moment later he heard a small bang and then an "ow". He stopped for a moment and then looked behind the door to see his sister sitting on the ground rubbing her forehead. If you didn't guess, the door had whacked her in the face. "What a way to thank a girl," she muttered, noting that Ashitaka had most likely been awake as he, like Eboshi, was in his day clothes.

Rolling his eyes Ashitaka helped her up. "What's happening?" he asked, looking at the dead man lying next to his hut.

"Two assassins slipped passed the lookout," she replied, glancing at the man, "They're wearing the same outfit so they must have been working together."

Ashitaka frowned at her, "Weren't you on watch tonight?"

Kaya blushed. "Hey, I followed one and the other must have entered while I was distracted, and I've been up all night, cut a girl some slack."

Rolling his eyes again Ashitaka muttered, "We're under attack Kaya, could you be serious for one moment."

"For one moment maybe," she giggled.

Ignoring her Ashitaka looked at the assassin again. "How could he have guessed this was my hut?" he asked no one in particular.

Kaya looked at the man and then her brother's hut. "He couldn't," she stated, "There's no difference between your hut and any of the nearby ones."

Ashitaka nodded. "So someone who's already been in Iron Town before must have told him."

"You think Cargo's been here?"

"Without a doubt," said Ashitaka. "It would only be entertaining for him to risk being hung. I'm sure the fact that he can be right under our nose without us knowing makes him feel invulnerable."

"No," said Kaya matter-of-factly, "What makes him feel invulnerable is the fact that he's standing behind us and you haven't even noticed."

Turning around, both saw him giving them an evil smile. "How did you know he was there?"

"My sixth sense," Kaya lied. In reality Cress had told her but she did not wish to reveal this to Cargo just yet.

"It's a displeasure to see you again," Cargo sneered.

"What are you doing here so soon?" Ashitaka demanded, "You said you wouldn't be back for another month."

"Oh sorry, did I say I'd be back in _four_ months?" the assassin smirked, "Alright, I wanted my return to be a surprise."

"It doesn't matter; Kaya and I can take you on by ourselves," said Ashitaka.

Cargo threw back his head and laughed, "Hilarious."

"It's no joke," muttered Kaya.

Cargo shrugged, "If you want to delude yourselves into thinking you can beat me when I fight at my best then be my guest. But by the end of this I will have made you see why love and companionship are not good things."

"How?" Ashitaka and Kaya asked together.

"By showing you the pain it causes. I shall start by bringing those bothersome cardcaptors back. I will make Sakura watch as I hang Syaoran."

"Love causes pain," yelled Ashitaka, "but that's just part of loving someone, whether it's true love or family love."

"My love for my brother was the only thing that stopped me killing him when you hypnotised me," Kaya shouted, "I will always stand by him. How can that be a bad thing?"

"You would always stand by your brother, but is that true the other way around?"

"Of course I would, I'd never betray her!"

"You wouldn't betray her, but you abandoned her back at your village."

"I had to!"

"And you wouldn't stand by her if she were to join me."

"I would never do that," Kaya yelled.

"Never say 'never'" Cargo smiled, "And I did use the word 'always' for a reason."

"You can't ask me something like that," replied Ashitaka.

"Only because you know I'm right."

"Stop it!" Kaya stuttered.

Cargo giggled. It was amazing how simple it was to make them squirm. "I haven't even mentioned that I know who you really are."

"Meaning what?" asked Ashitaka.

With a smile on his lips, Cargo gave a mock bow. "It's an honour to meet you, the last prince and last princess of the Emishi."

Ashitaka's eyes widened. "How did you find that out," he demanded.

Kaya's mouth dropped open. "Oh no," she gasped, "please tell me I didn't reveal that to you when I…"

"When you were under my father's hypnosis spell," Cargo finished. "I'm afraid you did, but don't worry I haven't told anyone. I wouldn't want to risk losing my chance of killing off the Emishi tribe to someone else."

At that moment the sound of a bell began to resonate throughout the village. "There's a constant ringing in my ear," Kaya muttered sarcastically.

Cargo looked around, attempting to judge where the ringing was coming from. "I assume that's an evacuation signal," he laughed, "Why does it not surprise me that you and your friends would run away."

"We don't plan on running from you this. We'll finish you now," Ashitaka declared.

"I don't plan on fighting you with these people dashing about," the green haired man replied, gesturing to the people coming out of the nearby huts. He pulled his hood over his head. "I'll battle you later," he sneered, and then turned and walked, almost casually, away. Everyone was too focused on getting to the boats at the back of the village to notice him.

Kaya started to follow him but Ashitaka grabbed her shoulder. "Ashitaka, we might still be able to…"

"Use your head…" Ashitaka began but Kaya interrupted.

"Yeah, I'll head-butt him."

Ignoring her comment Ashitaka continued, "If we fight him here he's just going to use someone as a human shield when he realises that we out class him."

"Point taken," Kaya muttered.

It appeared that Cargo's retreat may have also been caused by the arrival of his men, who were currently clambering over Iron Town's outer wall.

"It's a good thing we ordered an evacuation," said Lady Eboshi, coming up to them. "Follow me, there's something I need to give you." Kaya and Ashitaka followed her through the crowd of people and back to her house. When they were inside Eboshi immediately went over to the corner of the room. Using her one hand, she brushed away some of the dirt on the ground, exposing a wooden box buried there. She opened it to reveal the emerald they had obtained from Cargo's father. "You must make sure Cargo doesn't get this back," she said, offering it to Ashitaka, but he shook his head.

"I have no interest in using that," he stated.

"I'll take it then," said Kaya, reluctantly accepting it from Eboshi. It was then that the sound of someone running in heavy boots could be heard. It was too soon for any of the men who had been climbing over the wall to have reached them and as the people of Iron Town rarely wore boots, there was only one person it really could be.

"You go on ahead," ordered Eboshi, "I'll ensure he doesn't follow you."

"I'm not just going to leave you here to be killed," replied Ashitaka, "Kaya I want…"

"Well if you're staying then I'm staying," Kaya cut in.

"No Kaya, you should…"

"Brother when you wouldn't let me help you fight Asano, I didn't know if I'd see you alive again. The whole reason I came here was because I didn't want that to happen, yet it did. So I promised myself that it would be the last time. If you stay, I'll stay," she finished.

Ashitaka frowned and glanced at the door. The footsteps were getting closer.

"Just go with her," said Eboshi to Ashitaka, "his men won't take much longer to get here. Whoever stays here will die. Do you want that to happen to your sister?"

Ashitaka shook his head, the frown still on his lips. "Come on," he said to Kaya. The two hastily made their way through the back exit.

Lady Eboshi drew her sword and a moment later the door was smashed open to reveal Cargo. "So it'll be you who'll become today's target," he laughed, his black eyes sparkling with madness.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2: Cardcaptors Return

War for Peace

Chapter 2: Cardcaptors Return

"Get ready for oblivion Eboshi," laughed Cargo.

"You can kill me if you want but it won't help you in the slightest," said Lady Eboshi calmly. "Iron Town may be yours; however I assure you, you'll never claim this world."

"When Ashitaka and Kaya see you in the afterlife, they can tell you just how right you were," Cargo giggled.

"What?" Eboshi asked.

"Unlike my father, I have no intention of taking over this planet. My master and I have a far better way of restoring peace."

"Your master?" exclaimed Eboshi in surprise, "I thought you…"

"Like I said," Cargo interrupted, "your friends can exclaim in the afterlife." Eboshi saw the dagger in his hand just a moment before he threw it at her. She smiled triumphantly as she knocked the blade away with her sword. Only for the smile to vanish when another dagger pierced her knee a split second later. The pain shot through her leg but it didn't last long. Just long enough for Cargo to dart behind her and deliver the final blow. He watched with satisfaction as the leader of Iron Town collapsed to the ground for the last time.

"You certainly took care of her," said a voice. Cargo's messenger, a small creature with purple roots for legs, leaves for fingers and three flowers on his head, scuttled in.

"Well what _else_ could have happened Captain Weed," smiled Cargo.

A second man walked into the room. He looked like Cargo but about ten years older. Also his hair was its natural black and his outfit, while similar to Cargo's, had less armour and his cape was black. "Master Bristow," cried Captain Weed, leaning forwards slightly, which was the closest he could get to a bow.

"Well brother," muttered the man, talking to Cargo, "I'm pleased to see you didn't mess up the plan."

"Did you expect me to," Cargo asked.

"I usually do, why should this time be any different?"

"Maybe I should…"

"Shut up," Bristow interrupted.

Clenching his teeth Cargo thought, 'Just a few more days, then you can torture him all you like.'

"Master, your brother did manage to kill Iron Town's leader," pointed out Captain Weed.

This information did not seem to impress Bristow in the slightest. "One person?" he muttered, "Didn't you get anyone else?"

"No," replied Cargo calmly, "Everyone else escaped."

"Not everyone," said a hoarse voice. The three turned to see a figure dragging a struggling girl through the doorway. He had an identical outfit to Cargo, although his hood was up and he had a wooden mask to cover his face. The mask had two narrow slits in it so the man could see.

"Where did you find her Master Yugi?" Cargo asked.

"She tripped and sprained her ankle," replied Yugi, still in a hoarse voice, as he tossed the girl in front of Cargo. "I've healed the damage," he continued, tapping the black emerald around his neck.

"What's your name," Cargo asked the girl, kneeling down in front of her.

"M… Miho," the girl whispered quietly.

"You'll be useful later," said Cargo getting to his feet. "I shall prepare the ritual to bring back the cardcaptors."

"Father never needed rituals to preform magic," Bristow muttered.

"Because he had been practicing spells before you were even born," yelled Cargo, resisting the urge to stab his brother in the heart.

* * *

The boats and rafts slowly floated away from Iron Town. No one spoke, everyone in silent memorial.

"You know that staying would have been pointless bro," said Kaya, breaking the silence.

"There was nothing pointless about it," said Ashitaka without looking at her. "We could have taken Cargo if…"

" _We_ could have taken Cargo," Kaya agreed, "but you and Eboshi couldn't. You wouldn't have been in perfect sync, he'd have killed you. And if all three of us had stayed, his men would have killed us."

"At least we wouldn't have abandoned a friend," Ashitaka muttered.

Kaya stared at him in disbelief; she then lay back on the raft muttering, "So you're saying it would have been better if you had died with her?"

Ashitaka blinked in astonishment. "Kaya, that's not what I…"

"I know that's not what you meant, but it _is_ what would have happened," Kaya breathed. "We didn't abandon her; she gave her life to save her people. Our job is to make sure the act wasn't in vain."

"I know," Ashitaka sighed, and after a long pause muttered, "I must see San as soon as possible."

Kaya let out a soft laugh. "Can't you control your hormones?"

The prince threw her a death glare. "You know that's not the reason. She's not been well lately."

"It's not surprising; we've all been working overtime. Soon it'll be worth it." The young princess placed her hand over her mouth and yawned. "Wake me when we're back on dry land," she mumbled sleepily. She used the magic of the emerald, now around her neck, to make her hat appear in her hand and then she placed it over her face.

A moment later Ashitaka jerked his head to look at her. "What?" he gasped.

Kaya pushed the hat off her face. "What?" she echoed.

"What did you just say?"

"I said 'Wake me when we're back on dry land'."

"No, after that."

"What."

"What?"

"After I said 'Wake me when we're back on dry land' I said 'What'." It was obviously a deliberate joke to be annoying.

"No, in between you saying…"

"I didn't say anything in between," Kaya muttered, before pulling her hat back down and drifting off to sleep.

Her brother watched her carefully. He couldn't be certain but he thought she'd whispered 'It'll be fun killing Cargo and his brother.'

 _-Present Day-_

Syaoran leaned back against a tree in the schoolyard. He looked up at the cherry blossom while thinking back to the time traveling events that occurred just three days earlier. "Hey Syaoran, how it going," he heard Sakura say.

He turned, smiling mischievously. He was about to say something flirtatious but managed to stop himself just in time when he saw Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo. As Syaoran was still trying to come up with the best way to tell Meiling about him and Sakura, neither of them had mentioned their love confession when telling Tomoyo and Meiling about their recent adventure. "You certainly seem happy Syaoran," said Tomoyo.

He quickly wiped the smile off his face. "Why wouldn't I be?" Syaoran asked, going slightly pink.

"Well you usually only smile when Sakura compliments you," Tomoyo giggled.

"Oh stop it Tomoyo," said Sakura, starting to turn red herself, "What makes you think Syaoran likes me anyway?"

"The reason I just…" Tomoyo began, but a shrill voice cut her off.

"Syaoran," Meiling cooed.

'Oh damn it,' Syaoran thought as Meiling came running up to them and put her arm around his.

"So this is where you've been hiding," she laughed, resting her head on his shoulder.

Syaoran blushed while Sakura fumed. "Meiling, Syaoran has something to tell you," said Sakura.

"No I don't," Syaoran said quickly, throwing Sakura a glare.

Just as Tomoyo was about to make a teasing joke, such as 'You mean about you and Syaoran getting together', the four of them felt there faces come into contact with the ground.

"I thought you said there were only two cardcaptors," muttered Bristow.

"That's right," replied Cargo, "The other two must be friends of theirs." The twelve year olds found themselves in a cell, along with Cargo, Bristow and four guards. The green haired man then walked over to Syaoran and, grabbing a handful of his hair, yanked him to his feet.

"Hey, let go of my boyfriend," yelled Meiling.

Cargo cocked his head to one side. "Your boyfriend?" he said amused.

"Yeah and I said let go of him," she shouted.

"I know you did," Cargo replied calmly. Then, acting as if Meiling wasn't there, he looked at Sakura and said, "Hand over all the Sakura cards or I will…"

"Meiling stop!" Syaoran shouted but she ignored him. She ran forwards and attempted to karate kick the assassin in the face. Cargo didn't even need to glance at her. He caught her ankle and proceeded to punch her in the face a moment later. The girl felt pain shoot through her skull as she landed on her back, her hands covering her face, partly because of the pain and partly so nobody would see the tears seeping from her tightly closed eyes.

"If you get up again, I'll put a dagger between your eyes," Cargo stated. With the tone he used it was hard to believe he'd just given a death threat. "As I was saying, Hand over all the Sakura cards or I will kill Syaoran."

Reluctantly, Sakura pulled her cards from her pocket and placed them on the floor. Cargo nodded at Bristow, who then walked over to Sakura and pressed a dagger against the side of her neck.

Cargo let go of Syaoran's hair and picked up the cards. He flipped through the deck, appearing to count them. "They're all here," he announced. "Now Syaoran, give me your element cards if you don't want to see Sakura's throat slit."

Syaoran tossed the pieces of paper in front of Cargo's feet. "Is that all of them?" Cargo questioned. Syaoran nodded glaring at him.

"Now let her go!"

"Why should I?" smiled Bristow.

"Because I order it," said Cargo.

"But you said…" Bristow began.

"You can kill them later, for now just do as I say," hissed the green haired man.

With a scowl Bristow obeyed. "So when _do_ I get to kill them," he asked.

"At sunset," his brother replied, "Give them the rest of the day alone to think about the fact that they'll never see their families again."

Bristow giggled, "It's at times like this I'm glad to have you around."

Disregarding the pain in her head, Meiling jumped to her feet. "Meiling if you must do something make sure it's something you'll have time to regret," Sakura muttered through gritted teeth.

Unsurprisingly Meiling didn't listen. "You can't execute us; we're only kids, we…"

The dagger almost sliced off her ear, but Cargo only wanted to scare her, so it narrowly missed. "I can kill you if that is what I wish," he sneered. He walked forwards and looked into her eyes. "And you have no way to stop me." A pale Meiling shrank back in terror.

The six men then left, locking the cell door behind them.

"So I take it this is the place you were telling us about," said Tomoyo.

"What gave that away," Syaoran muttered sarcastically.

"Oh I can't die here, I'm only twelve," Meiling sobbed.

"We won't die," said Syaoran, surprisingly claim, "Those friends we mentioned can help us out."

"How can they help us while we're stuck in here," his cousin whined.

"We don't need help getting out," Sighed Sakura, "Now would you please calm down."

"But they took all your cards! Without magic what chance…"

"That is not a problem," said Sakura as she walked over to the cell bars.

* * *

Cargo walked into his sleeping quarters, which formerly belonged to Eboshi, carrying a bowl of ramen. Miho was sitting in a chair, rope around her wrists and ankles made sure of that.

There was silence for a short time, Miho watch Cargo while wondering if her life was about to end. Then Cargo placed the ramen on a table and proceeded to draw his sword. The young girl closed her eyes but instead of feeling the agony of death she felt the ropes slacken and fall away. She opened her eyes to see Cargo sheathing his sword. "The ramen is for you."

She looked at the food uneasily. "You didn't… add anything did you?"

"No, until you are needed in my plan you are my guest."

"If you treat all your guests like…"

"I can't have you getting away now can I. That is the reason for the rope, so unless you'd rather be placed behind bars I suggest you don't complain."

After another silence Miho sat down and began to slowly eat the soup. She wasn't hungry but she didn't know what other food she'd get.

"I won't tie you up again so feel free to try and escape. Just be aware that if you do, I will break both your legs in three places."

Miho gulped and nodded.

* * *

It was getting close to sunset when Captain Weed ran through the door yelling, "Master, there is a problem!"

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3: Cargo's Entertainment

War for Peace

Chapter 3: Cargo's Entertainment

Cargo stared open mouthed at the cardcaptor's cell, well it had been theirs but now it was empty. He walked into it along with Bristow, Captain Weed and Miho, the latter of whom was there involuntarily. "How?" he cried.

"You tell me!" Bristow spat, "You assured me that you'd taken all there magic cards so how…" he was interrupted as Cargo grabbed him and threw him up against the cell bars.

"I _did_ take all their cards!"

"Then how could they escape?" replied Bristow, seemingly unshaken by Cargo's violence. "If you didn't search him, how can you be sure he gave you all his element cards?"

Releasing his brother, Cargo replied almost calmly, "he'd met me before, he knows what I'm like; do you really think he'd risk it?"

"Could you have miss counted the Sakura Cards Master?" asked Captain Weed. He then hastily added, after Cargo glared at him, "It just seems to be the only logical solution."

As Cargo pulled the cards from his pocket, Bristow muttered, "You didn't even think to deprive them of their magic items.

"The sword and staff are useless without the cards," snapped Cargo as he flipped through the deck of cards. "I just didn't bother."

When he reached the final card he immediately started to count them again. Captain Weed and Miho backed into a corner of the cell, uneased by the look of rage forming on the assassin's face. Once he'd finished counting a second time, he threw the deck to the ground. "There's one missing," he roared, "There's only fifty! All fifty-one were here earlier! So where's the last one?"

"Is this what you're looking for," called a voice from outside the cell. The four moved through the doorway and looked down the corridor. Sakura, Syaoran, Meiling and Tomoyo were standing at the other end. Meiling had her arm linked with Syaoran's and Sakura was pretending not to notice. She had her staff in one hand and a card in the other.

"Would you care to explain how you got that," Cargo sneered, looking at the Sakura card.

"Well they're magic cards aren't they, can't you guess?" she smiled. At that moment the cards that had been thrown to the ground lifted themselves into the air and returned to Sakura, forming a neat deck in her hand.

"I didn't know you had that power," muttered Cargo.

"Idiot," hissed Bristow.

"I summoned the Erase card and used it to get rid of the cell bars long enough for us to slip out," Sakura explained. "Oh and I'll take Syaoran's element cards back as well." She then used the Move card to transfer the cards from Cargo's pocket into Syaoran's hand.

"Well," began Cargo as he drew his sword, "Your deaths won't be a simple hanging now that you've tried to escape."

"Sorry but we must be leaving," replied Syaoran, while Sakura erased the wall next to them and they ran through the gap. By the time Cargo made it outside he found they were gone. Sakura had used the Float card to levitate them away. Meiling pulled one of her lower eyelids down and stuck out her tongue, she knew they had nothing to fear, the virtually impenetrable Shield card was protecting them.

Bristow, Captain Weed, and Miho emerged behind Cargo. "Should I despatch our men to recapture them," Bristow muttered, clearly irritated.

"No," replied Cargo, his anger from a few moments ago seemed to have evaporated, "Why would I let them escape just to recapture them."

"You what?" said Miho and Captain Weed in unison.

"Well the card she used just slipped out of my pocket; did you really think I wouldn't notice that?"

"Then why were you so surprised and angry?" questioned Bristow.

A smirk appeared on Cargo's lips. "I didn't want them to know I'd let them get away."

"I thought you wanted them to hang."

"That's before I knew about that Meiling girl," the green haired man smiled, "I figured I could use this to demonstrate why love is nothing but a weakness." He began to walk away. "I'll be back in about two days when my entertainment is complete."

Bristow shook his head angrily before walking off, dragging Miho along with him.

* * *

"I told you I'd get us out of there no problem, didn't I Meiling," Sakura smirked as the Float card set them down in the forest.

"Well I could have done that with magic," Meiling scoffed.

"Give Sakura due credit," said Syaoran, "She managed to keep one card up her sleeve."

Sakura blinked. "What card would that be?" she asked.

"The card you kept hidden."

"I kept a card hidden?"

"Yeah."

"What card?"

"The card you didn't give to Cargo."

"What card didn't I…"

"Look you two could carry on like this all day," Tomoyo interjected. "Syaoran what card are you referring to specifically?"

"The card she didn't give to Cargo," he said again.

"I gathered that" frowned Sakura, "But there's no such card. I gave all the Sakura cards I had to him."

"You did," said Syaoran, surprised.

"Yes, what is so hard to understand about that?" she asked.

"But you didn't."

The others anime-style sweat dropped. "Please don't start that again," muttered Tomoyo.

"I'm serious. Don't you remember, when he counted them he said there were 'fifty-one', what about the fifty-second card?"

There was a short pause. "He's right," said Tomoyo, "I wasn't really paying attention at the time, but I remember, he definitely said there were only fifty-one cards."

"Well that's odd," conveyed Sakura, "I handed over all the cards I had so which one…" she trailed off, and then her hand flew to her mouth. "The Twin card!" she gasped.

"What about it," Meiling asked.

"The last time we were here I sent it after that green haired man but I completely forgot to retrieve it," Sakura exclaimed.

Meiling and Tomoyo anime-style sweat dropped again. "You forgot," they both groaned.

"Well I knew I'd forgotten something," Sakura shrugged.

Meiling placed a hand on Syaoran's arm much to Sakura's annoyance. "Well my Syaoran would never have made that mistake if he had the Clow cards." It was difficult to decide whether Meiling had _actually_ forgotten that Syaoran had been with Sakura at the time or if she had _chosen_ to forget.

"Would you mind explaining why he's _your_ Syaoran?" said Sakura, glaring at Meiling, "You do know he's not really your boyfriend?"

Neither noticed Syaoran smirking at Sakura, although Tomoyo did. "Well you are one to talk. You don't have a boyfriend either."

"No of course I don't, what the heck would make you think that I did?" said Sakura far too quickly. Meiling somehow failed to pick up on this but, once again, Tomoyo did. "Look could we get some rest?" asked Sakura, eager to change the subject.

"We could rest here and look for our friends tomorrow," Syaoran suggested.

"Good idea," agreed Meiling. Sakura knew if she had said the same thing as Syaoran, Meiling would have disagreed for whatever reason.

They decided to start a campfire first. Once this had been done, Sakura and Tomoyo sat against separate tree trunk, while Meiling, again to Sakura's annoyance, sat down next to Syaoran and rested her head on his shoulder. Noticing Sakura's irritated glare, Syaoran just smirked at her in response causing her to look away.

Later, when Meiling and Tomoyo were definitely asleep, Syaoran moved his cousin's head off his shoulder and quietly walked over and sat down next to Sakura. She smiled and leaned over and kissed his lips. Syaoran put his arm around her and she snuggled closer to him. "Why were you getting annoyed with Meiling, are you jealous or something?"

"Yes, I mean no," replied Sakura awkwardly.

"Well you shouldn't be. You know that I love you," he smiled.

"I love you too," Sakura smiled back before they kissed again.

* * *

The next morning Meiling was the first to stir. She was surprised when she found that Syaoran was no longer next to her and put out when she saw him next to Sakura.

After convincing herself that Syaoran had, most likely, just been comforting Sakura because she was scared or something, Meiling wandered off to see if could find anything to eat.

She had barely walked fifteen steps before she heard a female voice muttering, "He of course sends me, his little sister, out to get these damn herbs."

Meiling turned in the direction the voice had come from and quietly moved towards it. She saw a girl, roughly sixteen, wearing a blue silk gown and a straw hat. She was on her knees gathering green herbs then angrily throwing them into a basket and muttering to herself. "Why do I have to do this task, it used to be fun following his orders but now it all about his love." Kaya changed her voice to a mocking imitation of San. "Oh Ashitaka, I'm so tired and hot," then back in her regular voice, "Well I'm sure he appreciates the latter." She giggled at her own joke.

Rolling her eyes Meiling slowly crept up on Kaya. She aimed a karate kick right a Kaya's head but an invisible force blocked the strike just before it made contact. "Something to remember for future occasions is that sneaking up on me is nearly impossible," Kaya muttered in an amused tone. As the young princess stood up Meiling felt herself being forced to the ground, while the light emerald glowed brightly around Kaya's neck.

She turned and for one moment looked at Meiling calmly and with disinterest, but suddenly, out of nowhere, anger flared up in her eyes. She drew her sword and pointed at the girl. "Give me one, just one, reason why I should kill you for trying to attack me like that," she shouted.

It took Meiling a few seconds to find her voice. "If you harm me, you'll have my boyfriend to deal with!" she shouted back.

"Oh I'm so scared," Kaya mocked. "If he shows up I'll just kill him too."

"You don't want to mess with Syaoran Li; he has magic of his own!"

"'Syaoran Li'?" repeated Kaya, "This wouldn't by any chance be the same Syaoran Li who I…"

The sound of two people yelling reached Kaya's ears. The first was someone saying, "God of wind come to my aid!"

Followed by, "Wait! Wait! Wait!"

"Yep that's him," she muttered before the wind scooped Kaya off her feet and smacked her against a tree. Only at this point did it occur to her that she could have simply used the emerald's magic to block the blast. 'You've really got to consider the obvious,' she thought, whilst getting to her feet.

"Syaoran that was Kaya," exclaimed Sakura as she, Syaoran and Tomoyo came jogging up to Meiling.

"It was," said Syaoran surprised.

"Didn't the hat give it away," Kaya muttered, sheathing her sword.

"Sorry," Syaoran apologised, "It's just when I saw you attacking Meiling like that I…"

"I was defending myself," Kaya interrupted, " _She_ attacked _me_ , I don't even know why," she continued, looking at Meiling, "I was just picking some herbs."

"I… I thought you were with the green haired guy," Meiling improvised.

Kaya laughed, "I'd never work with him. I'm hoping I'll be the one to finally kill him."

"So you're… Kaya was it?" Tomoyo asked.

"Princess Kaya," she replied. Then, seeing the stunned look on Tomoyo and Meiling's faces, added, "Princess of a village, not the kind you're thinking of." She paused for a moment, "Sorry if I over reacted before, the stress of things is getting to me lately. I'll give you all new outfit as my apology."

"'New outfits'?" repeated Tomoyo.

"She's the one I told you about who gave me that beautiful pink dress," explained Sakura.

So Kaya used the light emerald to change their school uniforms into the outfits of their choice. Syaoran and Meiling pick their cardcaptor costumes; Sakura chose the costume she wore when capturing the Silent card. Tomoyo's decision was a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, 'not wanting to ruin anything good'.

"Why did you pick that costume Sakura?" asked Tomoyo.

"Well I prefer it because it's less extravagant than the others and I figured it would be easier to hide in the forest with these colours."

"And it goes with your beautiful eyes," whispered Syaoran very, _very_ quietly.

"Well you always look particularly handsome in your costume," Sakura whispered back.

No one else could hear what they said but Kaya guessed when she saw them blush. She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Let's get back and I can give you all something to eat."

As they headed back to the den, Captain Weed watched them from behind a tree. "They can joke around now, but soon they will see what my master has planned!"

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4: A Falling Out Among Siblings

War for Peace

Chapter 4: A Falling Out Among Siblings

Kaya and the four preteens walked through the forest, Meiling striding ahead while Kaya pulled Syaoran back so they could have a private conversation. "OK, would you mind explaining why Meiling called you her boyfriend?"

"You really need to know?" he asked. Kaya just raised her eyebrows at him. "Alright," he sighed, "She's my cousin. Several years ago her pet bird flew away and I went out in the pouring rain to find it."

It was obvious to Kaya how this was going to end but she let him finish all the same.

"I found and returned her bird and well…" he trailed off but Kaya wanted him to say it out loud.

"Go on," she urged.

"She was so grateful that since then she's been infatuated with me," he finished.

"And you haven't found time to tell her about you and Sakura?"

"Well it's difficult, I love Meiling like I love my sisters and I know this will hurt her. I want to tell her in the gentlest way I can."

"How long does that take?" Kaya muttered sarcastically.

This clearly annoyed Syaoran. Kaya seemed less patient than she had the last time they met. Then again, he possibly owed this to the fact that he'd sent her crashing into a tree. "It's only been three days," he pointed out.

Kaya raised her eyebrows again. "Three days? Time travel makes things complicated; here it's been three months."

"Well that explains why Cargo's back in Iron Town," Syaoran muttered. He looked at Kaya whilst frowning. "Did I hurt you badly when I hit you before?"

"I've healed my injuries with my emerald."

"But you look pale."

"I didn't eat much yesterday," she muttered without looking at him, "I haven't slept well for the past two nights, so I wasn't in the mood to eat."

"I bet you were in the mood for a drink," Syaoran smirked. He'd meant it as a joke but Kaya seemed to take it very seriously.

"I haven't…" She began loudly, but then closed her eyes and started again more calmly. "I haven't been drinking since the dance."

Syaoran watched Kaya for a few more seconds before looking away. He remembered Sakura saying that Kaya didn't need 'artificial stuff' to look good. He wasn't sure if this would still be the opinion. As stated above, the young princess was pale and her lack of sleep showed.

"So Sakura," said Tomoyo, in a way that made Sakura uneasy, "why did you really pick that costume?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura confused, "I told you, I picked it because the colours will help me hide."

"Really?" smirked Tomoyo, "Are you sure it's not because you wanted to show Syaoran your waist?"

"Oh Tomoyo!" scowled Sakura, turning red, "Would you just drop it. Syaoran and I don't like each other."

"I know, that's because the two of you are in _love_ ," Tomoyo smiled, stretching out the last word teasingly.

Sakura anime-style mushroom sighed. She didn't want to tell her friend the truth but she didn't want to lie to her either. "Syaoran already has a girlfriend," Sakura blurted out. 'And that's technically not a lie,' she thought.

This clearly wasn't what Tomoyo was expecting. "R… Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, he just doesn't want anyone to know until he's thought of a way to tell Meiling."

Looking at her friend closely, Tomoyo asked, "And you really don't mind at all?"

"No, why would I," said Sakura cheerfully. 'After all, I'm that girlfriend,' she thought with a smile on her face.

'Wow, I can't believe I had it wrong. I really thought those two had feelings for each other,' Tomoyo thought. Maybe she was too unsuspecting of her friends. An idea might have been to have asked, 'So why did he tell you of all people about his girlfriend.' But of course, this didn't occur to her.

"You might want to warn Meiling and Tomoyo about the wolves," suggested Syaoran, as the small group arrived at the den.

"I might," Kaya muttered, "but I don't."

It was a surprise to Syaoran how uncaring Kaya sounded, although she either hadn't had the hindsight, or just couldn't be bothered, to mention the wolves to him and Sakura.

As Syaoran expected, Meiling immediately became scared, but pretended otherwise, upon seeing Oro and Oko emerge from the den. Tomoyo remained calm as Sakura seemed unaffected by the newcomers. They were followed by Ashitaka. Meiling turned and shouted angrily at Kaya, "was this a trick so you could feed us to these wolves?"

"It's alright Meiling, they won't hurt you," said Syaoran reassuringly.

"What?" exclaimed Meiling.

Ignoring her, Kaya walked up to the wolves and her brother. Speaking to Oro and Oko she said, "I'll take the children to Iron Town's camp for the night; I just want them here for now so I can keep them safe. Is that OK?"

The wolves nodded. She then turned to Ashitaka and angrily tossed the basket of herbs at him. He caught it with ease but was clearly taken aback by her irritation. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I just brought you the herbs you wanted for your precious princess," Kaya muttered.

"My question again: are you alright?" said Ashitaka calmly, watching the anger starting to grow in his sister's eyes.

Feeling her anger rising, Kaya desperately attempted to quell it. "No. I'm annoyed that I was sent out barely after sunrise to fetch something for _poor, sick San_ ," she scoffed, finishing in a taunting tone.

Now it was Ashitaka who had to make an effort not to show his aggravation. "Kaya," he began, "firstly, I only sent you out so early because you, for some stupid reason, seemed determined to stay up all night. Secondly, when I asked you, you said you didn't mind collecting the herbs. And finally, you could show some respect for San, she's not well and…"

"She vomited Ashitaka; it happens to people sometimes, no need to make a big deal about it. But, of course, with San recently, it's just whine, whine, and whine. I wouldn't mind but you know full well I quit drinking."

"I don't whine," said San as she came out from the den. She tried to sound annoyed but the smile on her face made it clear she found it amusing.

So he could avoid snapping at his sister, Ashitaka took a moment to respond. "This is no time for jokes. Toki and Kohroku delivered a message while you were gone. They said…"

"Was it to say that Kohroku is incapable of delivering a message by himself?" Kaya butted in. San laughed which irritated Ashitaka further.

"They said," Ashitaka began again, "that Eboshi's corpse was found at the edge of their camp and that they wouldn't have been able to recognise…" he trailed off but Kaya understood. Lady Eboshi's corpse had been so disarranged that they only knew it was her because there was no one else it could have been.

'I'll kill that rotten bastard,' Kaya shouted inside her head. "Was that all they came to tell you?" she said, somehow managing to sound calm.

"They said Miho's gone missing, but she's too short to have been the corpse. And Gonza has asked us to come up with some battle strategies the forest gods and Iron Town can use to defeat Cargo," Ashitaka told his sister. His annoyance was pushed further when he noticed that she didn't seem to be paying him much attention despite having asked for the information. He might have been more understanding if he'd known she was worried about Miho. "Kaya!" he said sharply.

"What?" Kaya loudly replied.

Seeing the tension rising between the two siblings, San decided to interrupt. "Perhaps we should start the planning immediately," she suggested.

"Fine," Ashitaka and Kaya said in unison.

"Hey, what about the food you promised us?" Meiling shouted impatiently.

"Shut up and eat your vegetables," Kaya muttered sarcastically. She snapped her fingers and four bowls of rice and vegetable curry instantly appeared in front of the twelve year olds. "Now that gives new meaning to the phrase fast food." San laughed at this, causing Ashitaka to roll his eyes.

He, along with San and the wolves, turned and headed back to the den entrance. "Do you actually find that funny?" he sighed.

"Yes. Is it strange that I can laugh at jokes?" San frowned.

"When they're my sister's jokes, yes," Ashitaka replied.

"So now you don't even want other people to acknowledge me as a good comedian," Kaya grumbled, as she followed them into the den.

The four preteens ate what they could of the curry. It may have been conjured up by Kaya but it certainly hadn't been cooked by her. She still needed some practise with her magic, the food was almost tasteless. "This is disgusting," Meiling moaned, pushing her plate aside after only a few mouthfuls.

"It's better than your cooking," Sakura muttered, even though it wasn't.

"What?"

"Nothing."

They chatted for a little while, but Tomoyo kept attempting to steer the conversation towards the identity of Syaoran's girlfriend. This resulted in Sakura suggesting to Meiling that they practised some gymnastic technics in order to avert the discussion. Meiling, of course, jumped at the chance to show off in front of Syaoran, and Tomoyo offered to film the performance. Not at all surprisingly, she'd had her camera on her when they were brought back in time.

It was at this point that raised voices could be heard from the den. This quickly escalated to shouting. It sounded to Syaoran as if only Kaya and Ashitaka were arguing which was soon proven correct as San, Oko and Oro came out of the den but the shouting did not subside in the slightest. "Let them shout their throats dry," San muttered, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. She walked over to a tree and slumped against the base. 'I don't normally let fevers get me down but why does this one make me feel so tired?'

Sakura and Meiling, along with Tomoyo, attempted to ignore the commotion and focused their attention on the gymnastic duel they'd decided to have. San, Syaoran and the wolves listened to the ongoing argument, being partially amused by it.

From what could be made out, Ashitaka wanted to wait several days before they attempted to retake Iron Town, in order to give them time to plan the perfect strategy to allow as few deaths as possible. Kaya, on the other hand, had no wish to delay the battle longer than was necessary, arguing that the longer they waited the more time Cargo had to plan his counter attack and could kidnap more people to take hostage.

"If we attack now we get it over and done with!" Kaya shouted.

"If we attack now we could all be killed!" Ashitaka shouted back.

"If we don't attack now we could all be killed!"

"Kaya, if you rush into something, you're most likely going to end up in a situation you'll regret!"

"A lot of men would say that about their marriage proposals!"

"Are you implying something?"

"Yes!"

Caught up in his anger, Ashitaka tried to grab Kaya but she was too quick for him. "Attacking without any real plan is completely irrational," he said, trying to calm himself.

Moving so they were face to face, Kaya replied, "Do you want to know what I do when I'm irrational?"

"No, but I'm sure you're about to tell me." To the other listeners this sentence appeared to be followed by silence. Kaya was actually talking in a low voice to avoid anyone else hearing. Once she'd finished, she marched out of the den, her eyes closed and her head bowed. Ashitaka came out watching her open mouthed.

While Kaya sat down on a rock near Syaoran, who pretended to have been watching Meiling and Sakura preform gymnastic stunts, Ashitaka joined San.

"What did she tell you?" San asked intrigued.

"I'd rather not say," Ashitaka muttered. It was clear he didn't want to talk about it so San did not ask any more questions.

"You're letting him win you know."

"What?"

"You're angry because you feel you abandoned Eboshi and you're taking it out on your sister. The people of Iron Town are suffering from the loss of their leader. Cargo kills one person and he manages to weaken everyone. If we turn on each other he gets what he wants. Yesterday you chose to go with Kaya rather than stay with Eboshi, do the same now, for me."

Ashitaka smiled at the girl he loved, "Alright," he said, before they indulged in a passionate kiss.

Kaya momentarily watched them with anger but this soon became a look of misery.

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5: One Down?

War for Peace

Chapter 5: One Down?

"Why can't I find someone who'll hold me like that," Kaya sighed as she watched Ashitaka and San.

"You will," said Syaoran, looking away from Sakura, Meiling and Tomoyo. "You just have to find Mr Right."

"Oh I dumped him ages ago. I didn't like how he was always correct," Kaya sarcastically replied. It took Syaoran a moment to get the joke. When he did he laughed,

"Well you will find someone. There's always someone for everyone."

"Easy for you to say, you've got Sakura."

With a roll of his eyes Syaoran replied, "I'm only trying to be reassuring."

"Yes. And the emphasis is definitely on ' _trying'_."

Now Syaoran frowned. What was with Kaya she seemed even more sarcastic and irritating than last time. Maybe the fact that she'd recently quit drinking had something to do with it. "Well perhaps you should give up all the sarcasm if you really want to get a boyfriend."

"Well I make jokes, it's just how I am," said Kaya, "It's not my fault they're rubbish. Until a few months ago I lived in a village in hiding." She brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them sulkily. "The world thinks my people are as dead as my jokes." Syaoran rolled his eyes again. "We couldn't possibly have known how humour changed over the centuries."

As her anger brought on by the argument began to diminish, she realised how unreasonably her remarks had been. 'He's only being friendly' she thought. "Sorry," she began, "I know I'm a little short tempered but that's what happens to a girl after she's given up drinking and recently spent her sixteenth birthday trying to become skilled enough to defeat a psychopath."

"Really?" asked Syaoran.

"Yeah, not to mention I'm still wondering what Cargo's done with my crystal…" she paused and corrected herself, "San's crystal dagger."

"I don't know if this'll make you feel any better, but he'd probably only destroy it while one of you is watching," Syaoran pointed out. "Does that help at all?"

Kaya shrugged. "Well if it means he most likely hasn't destroyed it," she said getting to her feet. "I guess I better go and apologise. Ashitaka's way…" she paused and peered over her shoulder into the trees. She then shook her head and continued, "… is the more logical I suppose."

Syaoran smiled. The smile quickly left his lips, for at that moment a short yellow figure flew out of the branches and kicked Kaya in the head with both his feet, knocking her to the ground. "It's the Twin card!" Syaoran gasped as the figure hit him over the head with one of its scarf like arms, resulting in him landing next to Kaya.

"What the?" Sakura and Meiling cried, abruptly ceasing their game. Without warning the second half of the Twin card emerged from the trees. It struck Meiling in the head and then did the same to Sakura, knocking her out. The first half of the Twin card ran over and the two boys wrapped their arms around Sakura's legs, waist and shoulders before darting away with her. Tomoyo watched all this completely taken aback.

Meiling got to her feet as Ashitaka, San and the wolves joined her and Tomoyo. "What was that?" growled Oko.

"It was one of the Sakura cards," said San, "but I don't know why it would…"

"Syaoran hang on," shouted Kaya, as Syaoran ran passed them.

"Syaoran," Meiling called, "Should I come…"

"Shut up," Kaya hissed, rudely pushing her out of the way in order to following Syaoran.

"Kaya!" shouted Ashitaka walking forwards. Kaya stopped and turned to look at her brother. He was sure there was initially a smile on her face, however, her anger from before returned the moment their eyes met.

"Don't follow us," she shouted. She moved her hand in a wave motion and white mist formed between her and the others. The last thing Ashitaka could make out before the mist became too thick to see through was Kaya turning her back to pursue Syaoran.

"Kaya!" he shouted again and ran into the mist. To everyone's confusion he just rushed back out of the mist from the same point he had entered. "What? How did…?" he stuttered.

"How did she make the mist do that?" asked Oro.

"I don't know, but if Cargo doesn't have any luck killing her I think I just might just have a go myself," said Ashitaka with his teeth clenched in rage.

* * *

The fire's reflection in Cargo's eyes highlighted the mad look on his face. Sakura watched him finish preparing the camp fire. The sun had almost set so a fire was required but Sakura feared that the real reason he'd started it was so he could use the flames to inflict pain on her.

She currently had her arms and legs tied to a chair, so all she could really do was watch Cargo and consider what he might be planning.

Once the fire was going, he walked over to Sakura and knelt on his knees and looked into her eyes. She abruptly turned her head away but he grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. She felt the cold armour suck the warmth from her chin. "You think that turning your head can help you now? Everything needed to bring peace is in my grasp." He reached into her pocket and retrieved the Sakura cards. It was only when he saw the deck that his expression changed. He quickly counted them and then threw them in Sakura's face. "These are only half the Sakura cards! Where are the rest?"

Sakura looked away. Cargo walked behind her so she went back to looking straight ahead. She heard what appeared to be a dagger being pulled from its holder. "Tell me where you've hidden the cards," he hissed and pressed the dagger against the side of her neck, "or I will cut your head off."

"Yes, I'm sure killing me will loosen my tongue," said Sakura, wishing she felt as calm as she sounded.

"Loosening your tongue isn't such a bad suggestion," Cargo giggled. He looked at the back of her head and was momentarily tempted to tear into her flesh with his teeth and taste her blood trickling down his throat. This made him realise for the first time that he no longer had a single drop of sanity left. He had done many awful things to his victims, but even he had never considered actually eating them. He was held back only by his desire to carry out his plan.

Sakura cringed when she felt Cargo lick the back of her ear. "I don't actually need to _kill_ you," he giggled, "In fact; I think killing you would be letting you off far too lightly." He walked over to a bucket placed a few metres away and picked it up. "I just knew this would be useful."

As soon as she glimpsed the contents of the bucket Sakura paled. "Oh no! Please, _please_ no!" she begged as he placed the bucket of water in front of her. She saw her own terrified expression in the water's reflection.

"Well it's your decision," Cargo smiled, placing his hand on the back of her head. "You see I'm as good as finished if I don't get the two Sakura cards I need very soon. So are you going to tell me where they are?"

"No!"

With a grin, Cargo replied, "Well like I said, it's your decision." He then forced her head under the water. Sakura briefly struggled but quickly realised there was no chance of her escaping Cargo's grip, so gave up, scared she might break her neck.

* * *

It was the next day when Kaya and Syaoran came close to finding Cargo. He had been difficult to track down for a number of reasons. The first of which was that although Syaoran knew which direction the Sakura cards were in, thanks to his magic compass, the direction kept changing. It appeared Cargo was aware they were trying to find him and so continuously teleported himself to another part of the forest. It looked as if they were ending up not far from the den.

The second was their current state. Both were tired and Syaoran was starving. For supper Kaya had made ramen with the emerald, which had tasted no better than the vegetables curry, so Syaoran hadn't eaten much of it. Kaya had had no appetite, despite not having eaten that day, so ate none of it. They hadn't got much sleep that night either. Syaoran kept stirring at the slightest sound and Kaya just watched the stars, only slipping into a light slumber when she was too exhausted to stay awake.

They had begun searching as soon as the sun rose. Kaya didn't waste time fixing her hair, so it's slightly messy appearance, alone with how pale she was, made her look even more drained.

They came to a small clearing and saw Cargo standing in the centre with Sakura kneeling by his side. Her hair was more of a mess than Kaya's. Cargo held her head with his right hand and a dagger with is left. The hand that clutched the dagger hung lazily by his side, so confident he felt no need to intimidate.

"You finally decided to let us find you," said Kaya.

Cargo shrugged, "I was getting bored of holding Sakura's head underwater."

"You what?!" shouted Syaoran reaching for his sword.

"Don't be stupid," hissed Kaya, grabbing his hand, "He'll kill Sakura before you can try anything."

Syaoran was going to argue but Cargo interrupted by answering Syaoran's previous question. "I held her head underwater until she was almost unconscious, then once she'd gotten her breath back I forced her to drown some more."

"You bastard," said Kaya through clenched teeth, struggling to hold her anger back.

"All she had to do was tell me where the remaining Sakura cards were and I would have stopped. But rather than just telling me straight away she felt the need to make me torture her first."

" _Make_?" Syaoran uttered.

"And why?" asked Cargo, ignoring Syaoran, "Because she'd given the cards to the person she loved. She let herself suffer pointlessly because of love and if you still see love as a positive thing, how about after this." He moved his dagger so it pierced Sakura's stomach. She let out a silent gasp of pain while Syaoran and Kaya watched in horror too stunned to react.

Everything seemed to be frozen for a few moments, until Cargo pulled his dagger from Sakura's gut and pushed her so she fell back. "That's one cardcaptor down," he laughed. Syaoran immediately ran to Sakura while Kaya used her magic to immobilise Cargo and throw him up against a tree. "Not bad," he smiled.

"I'll kill you!" Kaya shouted, running up to him and used the handle of her sword to repeatedly beat Cargo's head. He didn't react the way she'd wanted. He showed no pain and even when his hair began to turn red the smile on his face remained.

Finding Cargo's smirk and bloody face disturbing, Kaya opted to just slice his head off. Of course it was never going to be that simple. She was about to strike when a strong gust of wind hit her and sent her tumbling to the ground. She got up swearing under her breath.

The distraction released Cargo from the magic spell. "Thank you Captain Weed," he said, as the loyal creature scuttled up to him, the dark emerald dangled from one of his leaf like fingers. "We should be going," he smirked and the black mist took them away.

Kaya then turned her attention to Sakura and Syaoran. She ran over to them, ready to use the emerald to heal Sakura's wound. But she came to a sudden halt when she saw Sakura in Syaoran's arms, pale and still.

Syaoran looked at her with tears in his eyes. "You have to help her."

"She dead Syaoran."

"Yes but can't you…"

"Only a god can reverse death," she told him sadly.

"Can't you at least try?"

Sighing, Kaya knelt down and placed her hand on Sakura's forehead. A white light surrounded them both, and at the same time the emerald shone brightly. As this happened Kaya briefly thought she might have been able to save Sakura had she not attacked Cargo, but realised that Captain Weed would have prevented this. When the light faded Sakura's wound was gone and her hair was neat again but her face remained white.

Kaya placed her hand on Sakura's neck to check her pulse. She looked at Syaoran sadly and shook her head. Syaoran looked back at her for a moment then at Sakura, his tears now trickling down his face. He moved Sakura's face so his forehead rested against hers, his shoulders shaking as he cried.

Kaya stood up and watched him without making a sound. No tears fell from her eyes.

To Be Continued…


	6. Chapter 6: Tricked

War for Peace

Chapter 6: Tricked

Kaya and Syaoran made their way back to the den in silence. Syaoran had tried to carry Sakura's corpse but had found looking at her too painful so Kaya ended up with the job. She glanced at the dead girl and then at Syaoran. Despite her slightly insensitive choice of words, she asked, "When she was dying, did she say anything?"

"What?" Said Syaoran, keeping his head turned away.

"When I was distracted with Cargo, did Sakura say anything?"

"No."

Kaya glanced at Sakura again. There had been a reason she'd stopped Syaoran from attacking Cargo. She'd been certain Cargo wouldn't harm Sakura. 'But why?' she thought. There was something but she couldn't remember what.

She continued looking at the poor girl; she willed herself to feel more sadness but couldn't. Her lack of sorrow made her uneasy.

The two walked into the clearing where the den was located. Meiling was sitting quietly by herself, while Tomoyo tried to find something interesting to film. The two had stayed in Iron Town's camp overnight but had returned to the den that morning. Ashitaka, San and the wolves were engaged in a discussion. Meiling was the first to notice Syaoran and Kaya's presence. "Syaoran," she said happily, getting up and running over to him. "I'm glad you're alrigh…" Syaoran walked right past her without saying a word and disappeared into the den. Meiling stared after him, surprised by his actions because, with her attention focused on him, she hadn't noticed Sakura.

Tomoyo and Ashitaka jogged over to Kaya. "Is Sakura okay," asked Tomoyo, just before noticing how pale she was.

"She's dead," Kaya said, virtually no grief in her voice, as she placed Sakura's body against a tree.

"What?" said Meiling, jerking her head towards them.

"But… how could…" Tomoyo stuttered in shock. She turned and walked away, Ashitaka and Kaya caught sight of a shimmering tear trickling down her cheek. Meiling just stared in astonishment, unsure of how to react.

Ashitaka, on the other hand, had been planning his reaction to Kaya's return ever since she'd left and the fact that she'd brought back a dead body didn't stop him.

"What the hell were you thinking, going off on your own like that," he shouted at his sister.

"I wasn't," she replied calmly.

"You weren't what?"

"Thinking," said Kaya, rubbing her forehead, "I didn't want you to get hurt."

After a fractional hesitation Ashitaka walked over to her and gripped her shoulders. "Don't lie to me."

"Alright," hissed Kaya, looking up at her brother, her eyes ablaze with rage. Meiling hurriedly walked away, uneased by the anger boiling in the two siblings. "You said didn't want to battle Cargo without planning, so I gave you your wish!"

"Do you think that unreasonable statement justifies putting Sakura and Syaoran at risk?"

"Sakura was already in danger and I kept Syaoran safe didn't I."

Ashitaka felt the sudden urge to hit Kaya in the face. "How can you defend your actions when Sakura is lying dead next to you," he shouted, "If I had been there…"

"If you had been there," Kaya yelled, "I could have brought back two corpses, yours and hers!"

"Stop!" San shouted, approaching them. "You're just playing into Cargo's hands by fighting." The two stopped arguing but continued to glare loathingly at each other.

Kaya used the emerald to force Ashitaka to let go of her shoulders. In response he took hold of the emerald. "Kaya have you eaten anything since…" He stopped as Kaya suddenly swayed, struggling to keep her balance. Her brother grabbing the emerald had stopped it giving her energy, and now the effect of two and a half days without eating and sleeping was hitting her all at once.

"No," she replied, placing her hand on his shoulder to stop herself falling over, "but I'll definitely eat something now."

* * *

Later, Kaya sat against a tree, munching on rice and beef. San and the wolves sat close by, while Ashitaka leaned on another tree, with Tomoyo and Meiling sitting next to him. He was still furious with Kaya but was glad to see her colour coming back now that she had eaten something.

"How are you feeling?" Kaya asked San, unable to take the silence.

"No better," San muttered, wiping her forehead, "I'm hot and I was vomiting earlier, but I've had worse fevers."

'Assuming it _is_ a fever,' Kaya thought, but quickly dismissed her suspicions.

"I need to ask this," San began. "What did you say to Ashitaka when you were arguing yesterday?

"I thought the two of you didn't have secrets," Kaya muttered before shoving rice into her mouth.

"Oh come on, can't you just tell…"

"Alright. I told him that when he left our village I nearly killed myself," Kaya said in an emotionless tone.

San gasped. "Why?"

"At that time I would have done with my life the same as anything else I didn't want: Thrown it away."

"Would you stop joking," Ashitaka shouted. "You were the new princess, how could you consider…"

"Because I didn't want to be princess," Kaya replied, still without emotion. "I wanted things to stay as they had been and if they couldn't… Well you know." She placed the almost empty bowl on the ground and closed her eyes. "I couldn't bring myself to do it," she breathed, "Anyone who thinks suicide is the coward's way out should try it themselves," she opened her eyes again, "So instead I left and came looking for you, brother."

"But why did you tell him that now," asked Tomoyo quietly.

"I wanted to give him an idea why I wanted to attack Cargo immediately." She looked at her brother, and then said, in a voice that was suddenly filled with emotion, "I left my home so I could be with the only family I had left, not to fight psychopaths. Every day we fight together could be the last day we're together, and I… want… that to end." She stuttered out the last part as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Kaya," whispered Ashitaka soothingly, his anger gone now that he'd seen her in this state, "Of course I want this war to end too. I wish we could spend time together without fear of death like we did back at our village. But if we take time to plan the attack then I'm sure we will be more likely to live to spend time together afterwards."

"I know," Kaya choked, "I don't know why I got so angry and if I hadn't been so stubborn Sakura might still… be…" She couldn't finish. She buried her face in her hands and wept. Ashitaka sat down next to her and put his arms around her comfortingly.

"You don't really know if things would have turned out better," said San, trying to calm her friend. "Cargo might just have killed Syaoran instead."

Kaya initially just nodded to indicate she'd heard San, but a moment later she abruptly looked up at her friend, "What did you say."

San blinked, "I said 'Cargo might just have killed Syaoran instead.'"

"Yeah," Kaya breathed. She could finally remember what she'd been trying to recall.

"Are you alright," asked Ashitaka. Ignoring the question, Kaya got to her feet and walked several paces forward as she went over everything in her head.

"I think I've got it," she said turning to face the others.

"Got what?" asked a voice in her ear. Kaya jumped and stumbled forwards as Cargo and Captain Weed appeared behind her. Ashitaka, San and the wolves were instantly on their feet. San appeared to have stood up too quickly as she suddenly felt dizzy. Tomoyo moved so that she was half hidden by a tree, while Meiling retreated to another tree, attempting to put plenty of distance between herself and Cargo.

"I've got your plan of course," said Kaya, looking at Cargo and returning his smirk.

"Plan?" asked Cargo innocently.

At that moment Syaoran came rushing out of the den. "I'll kill you!" he shouted at Cargo.

"Easy there Syaoran," said Kaya, appearing behind.

"What?" hissed Syaoran confused. His eyes remained fixed on Cargo.

"Kaya what plan where you referring to?" called Ashitaka.

"The plan that made us think Sakura was dead."

"Think?" said Syaoran and Tomoyo.

"It was a sadistic trick," smiled Kaya.

"What gave it away?" asked Cargo, not seeming to care that his plan had been unravelled.

"What you said back at Iron Town, 'I will make Sakura watch as I hang Syaoran.' yet you killed Sakura first. I think you wanted them both to watch each other die. So my hope is that she is actually still alive and what we've got here is just a copy created with the Twin card."

"Correct," smirked Cargo.

'My Sakura's alive,' Syaoran thought. The look of joy on his face made someone uneasy.

"There's no way you could have worked it out just because of that minute inconsistency?" San scowled.

"Fine," sighed Kaya, "I was also suspicious because Sakura never said anything. She didn't even gasp when she was stabbed. I guess you must have taken away her ability to speak, to ensure the copy didn't give the game away."

"Again, correct," said Cargo with a sarcastic clap.

"So where is Sakura," Syaoran asked eagerly.

"Here most likely. This time Cargo was probably planning to kill you in front of her."

"Well since it doesn't matter," said Cargo. He pointed to the tree nearest Kaya and Syaoran. Kaya darted behind the tree to find Sakura a little tide up, literally. She untied her and magically reversed any damage to her appearance that had been caused by nearly being drowned.

"Syaoran," cried Sakura happily and immediately ran to him. When she reached him, Syaoran took hold of her sides and spun her in the air. The two were so overwhelmed with happiness at being reunited they weren't thinking. They shared a sweet kiss.

"Are we going to settle this now Cargo?" asked Ashitaka, drawing his sword.

"Next time," Cargo smile, as he and Captain Weed disappeared in a cloud of black mist, "and that will be very, very soon."

"What gives Sakura?" shouted Tomoyo as Sakura and Syaoran broke their kiss, "You told me Syaoran already has a girlfriend."

"Yeah, me," giggled Sakura with a wink.

A small squeak caught everyone's attention. Syaoran looked and saw Meiling watching him with tears pouring from her eyes. "Oh no," Syaoran gasped, he had completely forgotten she was there.

Meiling turned and ran into the forest as fast she could. Kaya materialised behind Syaoran and grabbed his shoulder to stop him following his cousin. "Let me talk to her," she said and ran after Meiling before Syaoran could argue.

Ashitaka didn't even bother trying to stop her. "Stay here," he told San and the wolves, "If Cargo shows up, Kaya and I can handle him. Sakura should put the Shield card around the area while I'm gone." He then proceeded to follow Kaya.

Normally San would have been irritated by being left to, essentially, babysit. But she currently didn't feel herself. 'What's wrong with me,' she thought, running a hand through her hair, 'I've never let a fever get me down before. Why is this one different?'

* * *

Meiling ran until she was exhausted and slumped down against a tree. Kaya quietly sat down next to her. She didn't say anything straightaway, knowing that Meiling would demand she be left alone or just not listen. Instead Kaya used the magic emerald to ease the pain in Meiling's heart; it was like giving her a relaxing massage. Kaya waited until Meiling's sobs had deteriorated into nothing.

"Syaoran didn't tell you because he knew how much pain it would cause."

"Well that worked out well!" Meiling snapped, her face buried in her arms.

"Even if it didn't work as planned, it shows he cares about you. He loves you the same way he loves his sisters."

"But I want him to truly love me," Meiling choked.

"Of course, why shouldn't you. But Sakura loved him too. Someone's heart had to be broken."

Raising her head, Meiling sighed, "Yes but… but Sakura has the Clow cards, why does she get Syaoran too?"

"Syaoran told me your family has money. You've got that."

"I'd give that up if it meant I could have Syaoran."

"Yes, because then you'd have his money," Kaya joked. Meiling managed a small laugh.

"Meiling, I know it must hurt but you're young and beautiful. The pain won't last forever, and one day you'll find someone else."

Meiling's expression was still grim as they got to their feet. "It still hurts so much," she said, putting her head in her hands.

"I'm not surprised. If it had already stopped hurting, you couldn't have really been in love with him," Kaya smiled. Her smile faded as she felt something, possibly a human fingernail, run across the back of her neck.

To Be Continued…


	7. Chapter 7: Kaya and Ashitaka vs Cargo

War for Peace

Chapter 7: Kaya and Ashitaka versus Cargo

Kaya drew her sword and turned one hundred and eighty degrees, but her blade merely cut through the air. She heard a cry behind her and turned back around and found that Cargo was dragging Meiling away. His left hand clasped one of her bunches and his right held a dagger pointed at her neck. "I love it when a plan comes together," he laughed.

"You planned us coming here," Kaya breathed. She let her sword hang by her side. "Are you saying that… that you knew…"

"I knew you'd work out that the Sakura I killed was a copy," Cargo finished.

"And you knew what I was going to say," Kaya muttered. "It's like this is a story and you read ahead."

"I made the copy so I could give two examples of why love is bad. I showed the pain of losing one's love to death and the pain of heart break.

"A devious double demonstration," said Kaya rolling her eyes.

Meiling slowly turned her head to look at Cargo, careful not to put any strain on her hair. "Why did you make me see that? It was horrible seeing Syaoran kissing someone else, especially Sakura."

Cargo looked down at her. There was something he had been aware of even before he had made his presence known, so decided to enjoy himself before he completed the task he came here to accomplish. "Didn't I make myself clear? I was showing why love should be renounced. If you hadn't loved Syaoran, you wouldn't have felt anything. If I hadn't loved my mother, killing her wouldn't have driven me mad. I might have even recovered from the torture my father put me through." He pulled Meiling's hair, causing her to cry out.

"Let her go and fight me one on one," Kaya shouted. She wanted to get Meiling away from danger or she feared she'd end up having to return to the den carrying a corpse for the second time that day.

"Someone can save her but it's not you," Cargo laughed. He raised his dagger, giving Meiling the opportunity to punch the side of his face but he barely flinched. Kaya appeared behind Cargo; however he had been expecting this. Rapidly he turned around, pulling Meiling so she was between himself and Kaya.

The young princess gritted her teeth and glanced up at the dagger Cargo still held over his head. She teleported behind him again, this time she planned to strike immediately. She didn't even get a chance. Cargo started turning the moment she'd disappeared. He let go of Meiling's hair to leave his left hand free to punch Kaya in the face as hard as he could, then he took hold of Meiling's hair again before she could make a getaway.

Kaya fell to the ground. The force of the punch had very nearly knocked her out.

"See ya," he sneered at Meiling and brought the dagger down.

"Stop," Shouted a voice. The blade came to a halt a centimetre from Meiling's neck.

"Ashitaka?" breathed Kaya getting to her feet. She saw her brother approaching them.

"I'm the one who could save her, right?" Ashitaka asked Cargo, "By showing myself."

"Yes, because now that you have, she can go," smiled Cargo and released Meiling. She stumbled over to Ashitaka.

"I don't understand," Kaya frowned, walking back to her original position, which was between Cargo and Ashitaka. "You threatened to kill her just to get Ashitaka to stop hiding?"

"Yes. This was where my plan climaxed. With the three of us here, I can finally duel you two without anyone interfering."

"That's all you wanted," Kaya gaped, "to duel us."

"You should have told us," said Ashitaka, "We would have gladly complied."

"My way was more fun," he giggled.

Kaya glared at him. "What is all this for?" Ashitaka demanded.

"Yeah, what are you really planning," shouted Kaya.

"Don't let that worry you now. It's unlikely you'll even live long enough to see the sunset tonight, let alone long enough to see my glorious plan in action."

While Kaya continued to glare at Cargo, Ashitaka turned to Meiling. "Get back to the den and tell the others we will be back by sunset."

"But…" she began.

"Just do it," Kaya yelled over her shoulder. Meiling glanced at her before nodding and running off into the forest.

"Well Cargo," said Kaya, suddenly smiling, "Now that she's gone I can be honest and tell you this is exactly what I hoped would happen. I wanted the three of us alone so Ashitaka and I can kill you without the worry of others getting hurt." Her brother frowned when she said 'kill'; they'd agreed to only kill him if they had no other choice.

"I know," replied Cargo calmly, "I'm aware you still think you can defeat me. I assume that's why you stopped Syaoran coming here; to try and prevent me having more than one hostage."

"Yes," smiled Kaya, and the emerald she wore started glowing, "Now I can kill you with what was once yours."

"No magic," said Cargo, "As I said before, I want to duel the two of you, so only standard weapons."

"Why should we agree to that?" asked Ashitaka.

Cargo snapped his fingers and the black mist formed behind him. It then vanished and Captain Weed stood in its place, his leaf like fingers wrapped around Miho's arm and the dark emerald hung from one of the flowers on his head. "If you use any magic you'll have to watch her perish," sniggered Cargo.

"Fine!" Kaya hissed. She used the emerald to bring her energy to its peak then pulled it off and shoved it in her pocket. She was disappointed by the fact that she couldn't use the emerald. The burning sensation she'd felt when using magic had quickly transformed itself into an almost comforting warmth.

"And as this is our last encounter, I'll raise the stakes even further." Cargo pulled San's crystal dagger from his pocket and waved it in the air. "If you lose, I'll shatter this into a thousand pieces," he laughed, tying the string around his neck.

"Answer me one question before we start," said Ashitaka as Kaya untied her cape and tossed it aside, "How did you use the Twin card? I thought they only worked for the cardcaptors."

"The Sakura cards do, but the Twin card is no longer one of them," explained Cargo with a smirk on his lips, "I performed a ritual which transformed it into something else. The same way it was changed from a Clow card into a Sakura card, I changed it into what I call a dark card, or maybe a Cargo card."

"Who cares," shouted Kaya. 'I've been waiting ages for a good opportunity to say this.' "It's time to duel!"

"And soon it will be time to die!" cackled Cargo as he and Ashitaka drew their swords and the battle commenced. "I knew it would be the two of you that would follow the girl," said Cargo, merely to show that he could talk and fight at the same time without any difficulty. "Kaya always trying to show off and Ashitaka would never let his little sister down."

Kaya's blade narrowly missed Cargo's cheek. Only now did he realise he'd have to go all out in order to win this time.

While Miho marvelled at the incredible speed and skill the three warriors demonstrated, a hooded figure wearing a wooden mask quietly moved so he stood behind her. He pulled a dagger from his belt, but instead of killing her he turned to a nearby tree and began to carve a message on its trunk. The clanking of swords drowned out the noise he made and with everyone so focused on the on-going battle, when he slipped back into the shadows, not a single person had noticed his presence.

A few minutes passed with the duel remaining an even fight. Then Cargo's blade came so close to Kaya's face that it cut the band connected to her hat, but, miraculously, failed to damage her skin. With all the darting about, it wasn't long before the straw hat slipped off Kaya head. Cargo crashed his sword against Kaya's and the two blades remained locked together as he grabbed Ashitaka's right wrist. With both his enemies restrained, Cargo stepped on Kaya's hat before retreating a few paces away. He watched her shocked expression hoping to see sadness or anger, he was not disappointed. For a few moments sadness filled her eyes but was quickly replaced by fury.

"I'll fucking cut you to pieces!" she scream. She drew a dagger and unleashed a barrage of strikes against Cargo, all of which were dodged or parried.

It took a while for Ashitaka to re-join the duel. He watched his sister. The look of hate in her eyes combined with her untidy hair flying around her face made Kaya look mad. It was only when it became clear that Kaya was about to lose the bout, did he, reluctantly, move to assist her.

It was at this point that unease started to creep into Cargo's mind. He had begun to feel a minor pain in his muscles, which became worse every second. It prevented him from moving fast enough and his enemy's swipes came closer and closer to making contact with his flesh. Ashitaka's sword sliced off his cape. Soon his arms and legs suffered from several cuts, once even his side was hit.

His muscles suffered due to him having been given his talents by magic and his body hadn't been trained to use them. He had never fought at the peak of his abilities for anywhere near this long before and the lactic acid was quickly wearing him down. To make things worse, Ashitaka and Kaya fought in perfect sync, making it difficult for him to find a good opening to retaliate.

He turned and attempted to flee into the forest only for Kaya, who could now move faster than him, to block his way. "You were right Cargo, it is time to die," Kaya said with amusement.

"There's no reason to kill him," said Ashitaka.

"There's no reason not to kill him," replied Kaya as she and Cargo resumed the duel. Unfortunately, this was exactly what Cargo had wanted. He hadn't really been retreating, merely trying to isolate one of his foes. He tossed his sword into his left hand and used his right to grab Kaya's left wrist and head-butted her. Just in time she raised her dagger to block his blade. A moment later, Cargo released her arm and brought his elbow crashing into her chin. As she fell back he raised his sword to kill her but as he did, the handle of Ashitaka's blade hit the side of his head. He stumbled to the side; he was just able to jerk himself around so he fell on his back instead of facedown.

Captain Weed smiled, released Miho and disappeared.

Ashitaka pointed his sword at Cargo's chest. "You are now my prisoner."

"Why don't you just kill me?"

"There's no reason to do so."

"I think every person I've killed is a reason to do so."

"Killing you won't bring them back," Ashitaka pointed out.

Kaya got to her feet rubbing her neck with one hand, the other held her emerald. The crystal dagger untied itself from around Cargo's neck and floated into Kaya's hand.

"Despite everything you've said about wanting the forest gods to live in peace with humans, you only really care about yourself and your family," Cargo smirked at Ashitaka.

"Care to elaborate?" asked Ashitaka calmly.

"When it looked like I'd killed your sister, you said you'd kill me, but now that you know she's safe, you're willing to let me live."

"I don't kill unless it is necessary," said Ashitaka but Cargo hadn't finished.

"What about the other people I've killed? How many of them were someone's sister? It seems you don't care about."

"Shut up!" shouted Ashitaka.

"Just kill me if you want me to stop. My master will deal with you both anyway."

The handle of Ashitaka's blade suddenly became extremely hot and he had to drop it. A moment later Cargo felt himself being jerked so he was sitting upright and the armour that covered his chest fell away. Kaya moved forwards and plunged two daggers into his chest, one was the crystal dagger.

As his life slipped away Cargo looked at Kaya one last time and saw a smirk of satisfaction on her lips. He mouthed 'see you soon' at her, before she pulled the daggers from his chest and let him die.

* * *

That night a hooded figure crept into Iron Town's camp, completely unnoticed by the guards on watch. Without anyone knowing he'd been there, he left soon after. A sleeping toddler clutched in his arms.

To Be Continued…


	8. Chapter 8: Lies

War for Peace

Chapter 8: Lies

"She killed him in cold blood San. My sister would not do that to anyone."

"I hardly think it's fair to say it was in cold blood."

"What would you say it was?"

"Justice."

It had been a week since Cargo's death. Strange events had taken place in Iron Town's camp. The following day, a toddler was found to have gone missing without a trace. With Cargo's demise having just occurred, it was assumed to be his brother or master's retaliation and it was decided that an attack should be launched the following morning. These plans were scrapped when, shortly before the attack was due to take place, the child was found, unharmed, back in the camp. It was discovered, soon after, that a second toddler had been taken.

This trend continued, with a kid being taken and another being returned each day. By now there was little panic and everyone just expected the child to be found the following day.

Meanwhile at the den, Ashitaka and Kaya hadn't spoken since the day Cargo died and at last San managed to persuade Ashitaka to tell her why. It was because he felt Kaya was a murderer for killing Cargo, however, San was inclined to disagree.

"It is not justice to kill an unarmed man without reason," said Ashitaka. He stood facing San, while she sat leaning against the wall of the den.

"You seem to have forgotten the thousands of people he'd killed. She did it for them."

"She did it because she wanted to."

"And you believe that because of some carvings on a tree."

"I believe it because she killed him when I did not want her to and because she was smiling when she did it."

"Maybe she was smiling because she was glad he could no longer harm us," San replied. She wondered why Ashitaka felt such anger towards Kaya for her actions, when he himself had once said that he planned to kill Cargo. She began to realise that even dead, Cargo was still manipulating them.

"The reason is unimportant. She was not judge, jury and executioner." It was how they'd been taught back at their village; it was how it should always be: everyone gets a fair trial.

"Are you saying you think a judge, jury and executioner might have handled things differently?" It was obvious that Cargo would have been executed for his crimes anyway, so what was the problem.

"Of course not, but if Kaya had waited for him to stand trial we might have been able to use him to our advantage. He was more valuable alive."

"He wouldn't have helped us or told us anything useful." She was amazed that Ashitaka thought Cargo would have helped. "I think you just want to be angry at someone and since Cargo's dead you're taking it out on your sister."

"My sister, the old Kaya, would not have done what she did."

San hesitated before replying, she wasn't sure she wanted to bring this up. She didn't know how he'd react. "Do you know who would have? The old me," San breathed. "The day I met you I almost made the biggest mistake of my life, I nearly sliced your neck open."

"You were angry; I had just stopped you from…"

"I was angry," San sighed in disbelief at Ashitaka's words, "Don't you think Kaya was angry after Cargo tricked her? Why are you so mad at her?" San questioned.

"Why are you defending her?" Ashitaka shot back.

"Because she's my best friend," San replied.

Ashitaka blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me," she smiled, "She's my best friend." Although Kaya had called San this, it was the first time San had done so for Kaya. The reason it surprised Ashitaka was because he remembered she had once said that she could never be best friends with a human.

"You say that, but she's lied to you San," said Ashitaka calmly.

"What?" said San confused, "What does she have to lie about?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself," Ashitaka replied.

"Look Ashitaka," San got to her feet, "if we let ourselves turn on each other then he's beaten us. You've already lost your sister once; do you really want that to happen again?" She then turned and walked out of the den.

"Ask her San," Ashitaka called, "She's lied to you I promise."

* * *

Kaya sat against a tree, looking up at the clouds as San approached and sat down next to her. She noticed Kaya had managed to make her hair look neat again but it looked dry, contrary to its usual silky appearance, and she was still pale.

"How are you," she asked.

"Well, on account of the fact that I've barely slept or eaten in a week, I feel like I've barely slept or eaten in a week," Kaya replied, "How about you."

"I'm still vomiting if that's what you mean. It's strange; those herbs should have worked by now." Out of the corner of her eye San thought she saw Kaya's lips twist into a smile, but as soon as she looked properly, it was gone, and Kaya's expression was emotionless again.

"Did you come here just to ask me how I am?"

San sighed, "Why are you isolating yourself."

"I deserve it after what I did."

"You don't deserve it. You should have killed him. I would have done the same."

Shaking her head, Kaya replied, "I'm not punishing myself for that. I don't regret killing him for even a moment."

San looked at her friend. "It's not because of that stupid message?"

"It wasn't stupid," Kaya yelled with her eyes tightly shut. She had caught site of the message carved on the tree moments after she had killed Cargo. It had been a simple question and it wasn't the question itself that filled her with despair but the answer to the question. The carving had been three words, 'Fun was it?' And the answer, as much as it pained her to admit it, was yes. It had been fun, she'd enjoyed it and that wasn't how it was supposed to be. She should have killed because she had to, not because she wanted to. "I'm a killer. A good person would never enjoy killing."

"If that's what you really think, then Cargo has won."

"I know. I think he won a long time ago and I was just too stubborn to realise."

"What?" Said San, staring at her friend in shock, "The Kaya I know would never say that."

Before replying Kaya adjusted her hat. She had spent a lot of time fixing the damage Cargo had done to it. She hadn't wanted to use any magic. "The Kaya you knew was just an act. I only pretend to be brave and confident. That's why I was terrified of Cargo. It wasn't that he was the only thing I was afraid of; he was the only thing I couldn't pretend I wasn't afraid of."

"What about when you left your village. That must have been so scary but you did it anyway," San reminded her, "and I know you'd risk your life to save your friends, only someone brave would do that."

"So Ashitaka told you about my lie," said Kaya without looking at San.

San blushed. "Well that's… that's not where I was going, but yes, he did mention that."

Now Kaya did look at her. "I'm truly sorry," she said, pulling something from her pocket. San gasped as she saw the crystal dagger Ashitaka had given to her. Kaya handed it to her. "I shouldn't have told you Cargo didn't have it. I just wanted to hold onto it for a while."

San looked at the dagger then at her friend. "If you wanted it back, you only had to ask."

Kaya shook her head. "That's why I didn't ask. I thought you might give it back, but Ashitaka gave it to you, it's yours now." She got to her feet. "Not that it really matters. We're all going to die soon anyway." She walked off before San could reply.

* * *

Sakura and Syaoran sat quietly near the den. There hadn't been much for them to do in the past week. They didn't take part in any discussions made by the forest gods and the people of Iron Town, and so they passed the time by playing games with Meiling and Tomoyo, but there are only so many games one can play when you're back in time.

They made sure to stay together. After what Cargo did, they seemed afraid to leave each other's side.

Finally finding the courage to talk to Syaoran about the thing playing on her mind, Sakura cleared her throat. "Syaoran," she began.

"What is it my cherry blossom," Syaoran asked, stroking her silky hair with his fingers.

"Remember when you asked what Cargo did to torture me and I told you holding my face underwater was all he did." Syaoran nodded. "Well that was a lie."

Frowning, Syaoran asked, "How else did that bastard harm you?" He found it difficult to keep his tone calm.

"He didn't hurt me. He trick… He tricked me in the same way he tricked you."

"What does that mean? Are you saying he…"

"He made a copy of you and killed him in front me and I thought it really was you." Sakura looked at Syaoran with tears in her eyes. "I'm so afraid that it'll happen again but next time in won't be a trick."

It was slightly tempting to inquire how Cargo had killed the copy, but Syaoran knew Sakura wouldn't want to talk about it, so he didn't ask. "That won't happen."

Sakura buried her face in Syaoran's shoulder. "You keep saying that but you can't…"

"Sakura," Syaoran said firmly. Sakura looked up at him, her tears now trickling down her cheeks. "I won't let him hurt you. I will not let you be taken from me again. And that is a promise my sweet cherry blossom."

Sakura smiled at him as he wiped the tears from her face. They kissed and briefly they could forget where they were and the danger that surrounded them and just be happy. That is until…

"Oh how sweet," said a hoarse, sarcastic voice. The two broke apart and got to their feet. A hooded man, dressed in samurai armour and a wooden mask stood before them. The dark emerald around his neck glowed and a blue orb appeared in his hand. A moment later it flew high into the air and exploded, resulting in a very loud bang. If the idea had been to attract attention then it was certainly successful. Ashitaka emerged from the den, San and the wolves came running through the trees, while Kaya materialised using her magic.

"Who are you?" Ashitaka demanded.

"I am Cargo's master," wheezed the man, "but you can call me Yugi."

"Yuki?" said Sakura, remembering the name of a friend of hers.

"No, Yu _gi_."

"What do you want? Are you here to try to kill us?" San asked.

"Hardly," replied the hooded figure, "I came here to invite you, Ashitaka and Kaya for a banquet in Iron Town with myself and Cargo's brother."

"You've got to be out of your mind if you think we'd ever eat at the same table as you," replied Ashitaka.

"I'm definitely out of my mind, but you will come to Iron Town or the latest child taken from the camp will be killed." The voice was hoarse but it was still possible to hear the pleasure he felt as he spoke.

They were all clearly taken aback by these words. "If that was you're plan why did you bother kidnapping more than one toddler and returning the others?" asked Ashitaka.

"I wanted to give you and the people of Iron Town a false sense of security. By now I imagine there's very little concern because everyone expects the child to be returned tomorrow. Meaning there will be much greater shock and pain if it turns out the boy has been killed." Then he added, pointing at Syaoran and Sakura, "And I'll also kill one of them and make you choose which one."

"If you harm either of them or the child you've taken, I will hunt you down and make you wish…" Kaya's shouts were interrupted by the hooded man.

"And you'll make me wish I'd never been born," he laughed, or he appeared to laugh but it was hard to tell due to his wheezing. "That line is over used."

"Actually I was going to say I'd make you wish you were in hell," Kaya finished.

Not at all shaken by her comment, the man replied, "If you want the child to live, come unarmed to Iron Town by sunset." After he'd finished speaking, he disappeared.

To Be Continued…


	9. Chapter 9: A Meal with the Devil

War for Peace

Chapter 9: A Meal with the Devil

"So, I guess it's a meal with the devil, huh?" said Kaya, almost cheerfully.

"Shut up," said Ashitaka firmly as they walked through Iron Town to what had been Lady Eboshi's house.

"Okay, okay, no need to be touchy," Kaya replied, just to irritate him further.

San watch the two siblings uneasily. Why did they keep trying to get at each other?

The three soon arrived at Eboshi's house, to be greeted by two guards at the door. One nodded and allowed them to enter. It surprised them when they saw a table laid out with food. They had expected the banquet invitation to turn out to be a joke. The table was set for five, with two of the seats already filled, one by Yugi, the other by a man they assumed to be Cargo's brother. Captain Weed scuttled around the table, filling the glasses with wine.

"Please take a seat," said Cargo's brother.

The three moved forwards and sat down. None of them had any interest in the food, despite its evident good quality, but Kaya immediately picked up her glass and downed its content. Once she had done this, she pulled off her hat and tossed it one the ground.

"I am Cargo's brother, Bristow."

"Why did you call us here," asked Ashitaka.

"Well," began Bristow, while taking a mouthful of ramen, "since the final conflict will begin tomorrow, I thought I would take this opportunity to explain a few things to you before my victory." He picked up his glass. "You may ask me anything you want and if I know the answer I will tell you," he said, raising his glass to his lips.

Ashitaka and San glanced at each other, while Kaya knocked back her second glass of wine. "Why did you dig up and then refill Iron Town's roads," asked Ashitaka. It was something he had noticed when they arrived.

Bristow choked on his drink. "Alright, you may ask me anything except that," he gasped.

"Did you hate Cargo," San asked. The question made Bristow smile.

"Oh yes."

"But why?"

"Because he almost cost me everything," he smiled, "that's why it was necessary for me to torture him."

"I thought it was your father who tortured him," said Ashitaka.

"Technically yes, but it was I who caused it to happened," said Bristow, smiling at the memory. "Contrary to what Cargo thought, our father did love him, at least at one time he did. Our father would have given up on his ambitions just because…" Bristow closed his eyes. "…Because Cargo and our mother looked cute playing together."

"It would have been possible to call Cargo 'cute'," said Kaya, before downing more wine.

"Well, before I was done with him you could," Bristow smiled. "My father would watch them play. He wanted to give up on his plans for peace so he could be a true father to Cargo."

"So you ruined Cargo's life because your parents love him more than they loved you?" asked Ashitaka.

"No," said Bristow, sounding offended by the accusation, "I couldn't have cared less about my parents love. I just wasn't going to let my father break his word about the power he had promised me. Fortunately for me, my father's magic soon drove him mad, but it still took quite a bit of convincing before I could get him to torture little Cargo."

"Why have him kill your own mother?" asked San, while glancing at Kaya, who was gulping down more wine.

"It was the best way to drive him mad and she was no use to me, so why keep her alive."

From behind his mask Yugi glared at Bristow. In his head, not for the first time, he pictured Bristow dying screaming in pain. He smiled knowing that tomorrow he could turn it into a reality. He then glanced at Kaya and wondered why she wasn't showing any signs of being drunk despite her notable intake of alcohol.

"So this is all your fault," said Ashitaka, trying to keep calm, "all the evil things Cargo has ever done were because of what you did to him."

"That just about sums it up" smirked Bristow.

"You're out of your mind," said Kaya.

"We were all crazy at one time or another," laughed Bristow, "The magic did so to my father, Cargo was locked in the cave and what we did to him probably drove my mother mad. The irony is that I was the only one mad from the beginning, and yet I am the one still alive. I often imagine how different things would have been without me. They'd probably still be here, happy together."

"You turned your own sibling into a monster," breathed Ashitaka. It astonished him how Bristow could have caused his family such pain just for power.

"I'm the monster, Cargo was just a victim. Of course, if they had just been like me from the beginning it wouldn't have been necessary. In fact, Cargo wasn't like me even after the torture."

"Oh come on," said Kaya, sweeping her wine glass through the air, which caused some of its contents to slop over the side and onto her hand, "He was an evil madman. Why do you thing I killed him?"

"He was as mad as me, but not as evil as I was. Can any of you tell me why he enjoyed torturing people so much?"

Ashitaka and San waited for him to continue, while Kaya drained her glass of its contents.

"It was because hearing other people scream for mercy was the only thing that could block out the memory of his mother's scream."

A silence fell over the table as Bristow allowed the others to absorb what he had just said.

"Why is there a white _and_ black emerald?" asked San, deciding to change the subject.

"Well of course there is both a light and dark emerald; you need both to keep the balance. One cannot exist without the other."

"What did you mean when you said 'the magic' made your father crazy?" asked Ashitaka, presumably thinking of the emerald Kaya had been using.

"It's what the emeralds do to the person who possesses them," replied Bristow. "They like being used, but a good person would rarely use them. So they corrupt the person." He leaned forwards in his chair, resting his arms on the table. "I think your little sister is gone now, replaced by hate."

"I'm full of hate for you," said Kaya calmly, seemingly unaffected by his words, "that's a certainty."

Bristow chuckled at that. "You're about to hate me even more," he said getting to his feet. He walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a small bag, which was lying next to another object covered by a grey sheet. He walked back over to the table and ran his index finger over the bag, which somehow caused its contents to rain down onto the table. The others noticed that Bristow had a piece of deadly sharp metal tied around his finger.

"Recognise them," Bristow giggled, while the Kaya and Ashitaka stared at what had fallen onto the table. They were stones. It took them a few moments, but they soon remembered where they had seen them before. San watched them, a mixture of confusion and unease on her face.

Bristow continued to giggle as the horror started to appear on their expressions. "They're from our village," breathed Ashitaka. They were the stones used by the Wise Woman.

"I believe this will also bring back some memories," said Bristow, walking back over to the covered object. He sliced through the sheet. This revealed the wooden rack on which banished Emishis would place their hair. Ashitaka and Kaya were sure they could even spot their own hair on the rack.

"What did you do," hissed Ashitaka, his voice shaking with anger.

"I did nothing but watch," smiled Bristow. "My men and Cargo on the other hand," he giggled, "My men surrounded the village so there was no way to escape and then Cargo went in and killed them one by one."

Yugi watched the three glaring at Bristow. It was strange. Ashitaka and San boiled with rage, whereas Kaya, well maybe it was the wine or her tired eyes, but she didn't seem as angry as she should. She knocked back her drink so quickly that some of it gushed down the sides of her mouth.

"Why would you do that?" asked Ashitaka, "They had done nothing to you, they were no threat."

"For centuries it has been believed that the Emishi tribe is extinct. I thought it was only right that somebody fixed that error." He placed his hands on the table, grinning like a madman. "So how does it feel now that you know that you are the last of the Emishi tribe?"

"Not for long," whispered Kaya, but she said it so quietly that it was inaudible. The others just thought she was drunkenly mumbling to herself.

"You will pay for what you did to our tribe," said Ashitaka, glaring at Bristow, "You will pay for everyone you've killed."

"I doubt it," replied Bristow, "Tomorrow, when Yugi executes my plan, I will not only possess more power than I could ever want but I shall also gain immortality."

"Immortality?" San repeated in disbelief, "You can't be serious."

"You've seen what the emeralds can do," smiled Bristow, "when combined with the magic of the cards, why could they not grant eternal life?"

"Because immortality is stuff of dreams," replied Ashitaka, "Even the forest gods do not possess it."

"And that's why my power will be unrivalled," sniggered Bristow. He then walked around the table so he stood behind Kaya and knelt down resting his arms on the back of her chair. "But you don't have to die," he whispered, and Kaya cringed when she felt his hot breath on the back of her neck. "You could join me and be my bride."

"'Be your bride?'" Kaya repeated while laughing. "And you are, what, three times my age?"

"I'm thirty-four," he replied calmly.

"Well, then you look three times my age," Kaya smirked. Despite being unarmed, she was seemly unafraid of insulting Bristow.

Getting to his feet and walking back to his chair, Bristow muttered, "That's not what most women say. They're usually very attracted to me."

"They don't know you the way I do," said Kaya sarcastically.

"You can clown around, but I will be the one laughing tomorrow," smirked Bristow.

"You can do whatever the hell you want tomorrow because I won't be here," said Kaya.

"Huh?" said San, clearly taken aback by this. Yugi noted, however, that Ashitaka didn't seem at all affected by the statement.

"You're running away," Bristow mocked.

"I'm done," replied Kaya, "I'm leaving at sunrise. My plan for the final battle is to be as far away from it as possible." She once again raised her glass to her lips.

"I think you've had enough," said Ashitaka firmly.

Kaya blinked at him. She appeared to be surprised. "Are you sure," she asked.

"Yes, quite sure," replied Ashitaka. He watched as Kaya reluctantly placed her glass down.

It was then that a rattling from the window caught their attention. They all looked just in time to see someone moving out of view.

Bristow scowled, "whoever that is, better not be with you." He left, followed by Yugi, and could soon be heard shouting at the two guards outside.

"Shame, I was looking forward to dessert," sniggered Kaya.

Unable to resist, San replied, "I think Bristow had you in mind for his _dessert_."

Kaya grinned, "Well if he provides the cream…"

"Shut up," yelled Ashitaka, making Kaya jump. He then looked at Captain Weed, who had done nothing but refill Kaya's wine glass the whole time. "Can we leave?"

"Er, yes. I believe the meal's over," he replied and scuttled away.

The three left the house and found that Bristow, Yugi and the two guards were gone. Kaya walked over to the corner of the building and peered around the side, presumably to see if she could find the figure from before. After a moment, she jogged back of the others and they started to walk to Iron Town's gate.

Unbeknown to them, Yugi had observed this and had seen exactly what Kaya had done. "I must admit," He whispered quietly, "They're very good." He then vanished in a cloud of black mist.

The three walked around a bend in the road and abruptly stopped. They saw one of the two guards from earlier, along with Bristow who was kneeling over a very disgusting sight.

To Be Continued…


	10. Chapter 10: Winding Down

War for Peace

Chapter 10: Winding Down

Bristow examined the corpse of one of his finest guards. It was a mess. Whoever had done this was in a hurry but was definitely trying to make their work noticed.

"Are you certain your brother's dead?" asked the other guard uneasily. The sight of the dead body didn't really affect him much, he had seen worse. What made him shiver was the fact that it was only by chance that he was not the killer's victim.

"This isn't my brother's work," said Bristow, getting to his feet, "His cuts would be far neater."

While the conversation was continuing, Kaya slowly walked passed Ashitaka and began to quietly creep up on Bristow. The metallic object she held tightly glinted in the moonlight. Strangely, Ashitaka and San made no move to stop her.

"But whoever did this must be a professional," said the guard, "We only split up briefly. Only someone well trained could have done this in such a short time."

'Or someone with magic,' thought Bristow, as he assessed the situation. 'That would explain how they got past my men.' He went over the possibilities. 'It couldn't be Princess Mononoke or either of the Emishi royalty as they were in the room with me and I doubt either of the cardcaptors would do something as horrific as this.' He looked at the corpse. 'But who does that leave? My brother's ghost?' he thought sarcastically.

At this point, Kaya darted forward and attempted to stab Bristow with her dagger. In an instant Yugi appeared behind her and grabbed her wrist. "Release me," Kaya yelled, struggling in his grip. Glowing vines sprouted from the ground and rapped themselves around her ankles.

"I'm afraid you can't hope to overpower me while I have my dark emerald," Yugi wheezed.

Bristow turned and smirked at Kaya. "You thought you could stab me so easily?"

"Let her go," shouted Ashitaka. Bristow smiled at him as another guard walked up to them. Something seemed to be wriggling in his arms. It took about one second for them to realise that it was the toddler that had been kidnapped.

"I will let one of these two go," said Bristow, gesturing to Kaya and the toddler. "And because I'm a nice guy, I will not give you the job of choosing which one." He then walked over to Kaya. "She brought a weapon despite being ordered not to. So now she will pay the price."

Kaya was still trying to escape Yugi's grip. Yugi squeezed her wrist until she dropped her dagger. She angrily spat at Bristow. "You're a coward," she shouted, "Have Yugi let me go and fight me one on one!"

He smiled at her and replied, "I don't think a coward would fight you." He turned to look at Ashitaka and San. "If either of you decide to interfere, you will hear the toddler's neck snap," he warned. He then turned back to Kaya.

"Wait," Kaya gasped as his hand came up to her face, "Can't we talk about this."

"You had your chance to talk at dinner," he replied before clamping his hand over her mouth and nose. Kaya frantically squirmed in Yugi's grasp as her air supply was cut off but the emeralds magic prevented her from getting away.

Ashitaka and San watched as Kaya's writhing began to subside, however, the sight of the innocent, little toddler in the arms of a killer stopped them from helping.

Eventually Kaya went completely limp. Bristow held onto her face a little longer, just to make sure she was dead, before releasing her. "Alright," said Bristow turning to one of the guards, "you can let the boy go now."

The assassin obeyed, putting the child down on the ground and he immediately ran over to Ashitaka and hid behind him. Ashitaka and San glared loathingly at Bristow and Yugi. The latter watched their expressions carefully. He found it amusing knowing that they kept up their plan having no clue he had already seen through it. He wondered if he should end this game.

Yugi let Kaya's body fall to the ground and one of the guards dragged her away, the other took away the corpse of the dead assassin. Bristow just walked away, wallowing in his triumph. Yugi proceeded to walk up to Ashitaka, his mask concealing an evil smirk. "Very impressive trick," he coughed, "but it didn't fool me."

"What are you talking about," asked Ashitaka, clearly confused.

Behind his mask, Yugi's eyes looked passed Ashitaka to the figure, barely visible behind the hut, watching them from the end of the road. He knew who it was and he also knew they would prevent him from harming the three people in front of him. Well, they could try unsuccessfully to prevent that. Fortunately for them he had no intention of killing anyone just yet. That could wait until tomorrow.

"Don't lie to me," he wheezed, "or I will kill San."

The confused look on Ashitaka's face became one of determination and defiance; the little boy clung to his leg in fear, while San continued to glare at the masked man. "Did you come over here just to tell me that?"

"Actually, I wanted to inform you that I know you will attack tomorrow."

"Why are you so certain?" asked San.

"Because if you don't, I will kidnap another child and this one will be returned in several pieces," he replied. Even with his croaky voice he managed to sound deadly. "And I'll warn you not to bring any rifles or explosives to the battle."

"And why is that?" replied Ashitaka.

"Let me put it this way," Yugi coughed. "Only bring them if you want to know what it's like to be blown into oblivion." He turned to leave but Ashitaka grabbed his arm.

"I don't want any more unnecessary bloodshed," he breathed, "If you and Bristow leave now and take your men with you then no one else has to die. But if you persist then you will die."

Yugi turned his head and looked at Ashitaka; he appeared to be studying him from behind his mask. "Death comes for us all," he whispered in a voice that was no longer hoarse and as cold as ice. "But I promise it will come for you first." Once he'd finished he punched Ashitaka in the face, knocking him to the ground and walked away, leaving San and the toddler to stare in astonishment.

* * *

The next day the battle for Iron Town began. Sakura used the Erase card to remove Iron Town's gate, allowing the warriors and the forest gods to enter and the fighting commenced in the streets.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Syaoran used the float card to arrive in front of Bristow's house, just as they had been instructed to by Ashitaka. When they entered they came face to face with none other than Bristow, who was holding a burning torch. "Well hello there," he smirked.

"We're here to deliver a message," said Sakura.

"Yes and let me guess. It's a message telling me to surrender. Well don't bother because the answer's no," he laughed taking a few steps back so he stood next to a small pile of grey powder. He stood so the flames from the torch were dangerously close to the powder.

"Oh please tell me that's not what I think it is," said Sakura uneasily.

"Well if you don't think its gun powder, then it not what you think it is," replied Syaoran, sounding equally shaken.

"Now why does that not make me feel any better," Sakura muttered.

"It's not just here," giggled Bristow, "My men spent the past week digging up the roads and filling them with explosive powder. Thank you for letting your friends into Iron Town, because now if I detonate this powder it will set of a chain reaction, destroying the entire town along with everyone inside."

"But you'll kill yourself," Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah, not to mention all of your men," added Syaoran.

"I couldn't care less what happens to my men and if I don't get the Light and Dark cards I'll die soon anyway," Bristow laughed.

"The Light and Dark cards?" repeated Sakura.

"Why them?" asked Syaoran.

"You'll see," replied Bristow, "Now hand them over or I will destroy this town." As he finished saying this, the flame on the torch he held appeared to extinguish itself. "What the?" he gasped.

"Boo," said a voice from behind him. He spun round in shock, while Syaoran and Sakura watched sniggering. Bristow was so stunned he dropped the torch and stumbled backwards.

"What? But… but how can you be standing here," he gasped. While he was stuttering, Sakura used the Erase card along with the Earthy card to remove the gun powder and replace it with earth. "I killed you," Bristow yelled.

"I admit that is what it looked like," said a smirking Kaya, "But I'm still surprised you fell for it given the fact…"

"Actually I didn't fall for it," hissed a voice from behind her. Kaya felt a hand take hold of her left shoulder and a dagger press against the front of her neck.

"Yugi?" said Kaya, appearing unshaken by this new development, "Did you clean your throat out or something. Why is your voice different?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied.

"Explain to me," Bristow began, "how you're still breathing when I saw your corpse being dragged away."

"Simple," smiled Kaya, "It wasn't my corpse. In fact, it wasn't even a corpse."

"Then what…"

"It was the Mirror card," interjected Sakura, "she transformed herself into a copy of Kaya."

"Fortunately Sakura cards don't need air, so she didn't suffocate," added Syaoran.

"We weren't stupid enough to come here unarmed," said Kaya, "I was using the emerald to tell the Mirror card what to say and I would have stepped in if you had tried to hurt my friends."

"So it was you," shouted Bristow, "You were at the window and you're the one who killed my guard."

"Yes to the first and no to the second," Kaya replied. She then reached up and, rather casually, tapped Yugi's mask with the back of her hand. "I am eager to know how you could see through the act."

"Because it was a poor act," Yugi replied. "I knew almost immediately. You should have told her to be more careful with her hat. You wouldn't have tossed it so carelessly on the ground like she did."

"Who would have thought my fondness for my hat would come back to bite me," Kaya laughed.

"Oh shut up," hissed Yugi, pushing her away. Kaya stumbled forward then turned to face him.

At that moment there was a splintering noise as San jumped in through the window. The splintering was because the shutters were still closed. She landed in a crouching position and then got to her feet, pushing her red mask off her face.

Kaya, Syaoran and Sakura anime-style sweat dropped. "Well you get first prize for the most dramatic entrance," said Kaya, "but I feel I should point out that every other window was open."

"Well if I'd used them it wouldn't have been dramatic," replied San, before blinking in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd left."

"I guess I even had you fooled," Kaya smirked.

"What?" replied San, clearly confused.

Before Kaya could answer, Ashitaka ran in through the doorway. "So now the gang's all here," smiled Kaya.

"What _are_ you still doing here," Bristow spat, going back to San's question, "You said you were leaving."

"It was a trick," said Ashitaka.

"A trick?" said Bristow and San in unison.

"Oh come, isn't it _so_ obvious," said Kaya, twirling around on one foot, "What's different about me today?"

"Different?" repeated Bristow.

"Is there an echo in here," Kaya muttered.

"You look a lot better," said San, observing that Kaya's face had regained most of its colour and she no longer look so tired.

"Yep. I did it all deliberately but I had to make it look real. I was thankful that I could stop starving myself last night," said Kaya.

"It was all an act," explained Ashitaka, "We realised that the emerald was affecting Kaya when she killed Cargo so ruthlessly. We just pretended not to, so you'd think your plan was working."

"You tried to deceive us so we deceived you," added Kaya, "plus, you'd think you wouldn't have to contend with me or my emerald."

"Why didn't you tell me about this," said San, sounding slightly hurt that they'd kept this from her.

"I wanted to see if my act could fool the great Princess Mononoke. Oh, and thanks for defending me, _best pal_ ," Kaya teased.

San glared at Kaya doing her best to look annoyed, but somehow Kaya's humour made that difficult.

"I'm afraid that your efforts were pointless," smiled Yugi. "You being here simply saves me the trouble of finding you myself. My plan is finally winding down. As you say, the gang's here, so now the killing can begin." He raised his hand and an invisible force dragged Sakura over to him until his fingers were firmly locked around her throat.

To Be Continued…


	11. Chapter 11: The End of Everyone?

War for Peace

Chapter 11: The End of Everyone?

Sakura gasped as she struggled in Yugi's grip. She raised her wand but Yugi stabbed her arm before she had time to use it. She dropped her wand, crying out in pain.

"Release her now!" shouted Syaoran, "or I swear I'll…"

"Give me the Light and Dark cards and I will not hurt her," said Yugi, while Sakura's hands pulled at his.

"Why do you want…?" Syaoran began.

"Give him the cards Syaoran," said Kaya calmly, "There's no need to risk Sakura's life over them."

San and Syaoran looked at her in shock. "You don't really believe him do you?" San yelled.

"It's alright San," said Ashitaka, "We know what we're doing."

"Yes, but _I_ don't know what you're doing," San replied. "Perhaps you could explain…"

She was interrupted by a gasp from Sakura as Yugi squeezed her neck so tightly that she became unable to breath and her face began to turn red. "Yugi tends to get violent when he's kept waiting," said Bristow, smirking at the blood trickling down Sakura's arm. "I suggest you make a decision."

"Fine," Syaoran muttered through gritted teeth. He moved forwards with the two cards in his hand. At the same time, San began to sneak up on Yugi but Kaya stopped her advancing by throwing a ball of energy at her feet.

"What are you doing? San gasped.

"Don't get yourself killed," said Ashitaka.

"It'll be over soon," added Kaya, "but for more reasons than you are aware of, you must stay safe." That got her some confused looks from both San and Ashitaka.

"What reasons would those be?" San asked.

"Don't let it worry you," hissed Yugi as he took the cards from Syaoran. Then, after making sure he had been given the correct cards, he released Sakura, who abruptly gasped for breath. She and Syaoran backed away from Yugi, Syaoran protectively putting his right arm around Sakura. He, unintentionally, place his fingers over the dagger wound on her arm, not that it caused her any pain. When his fingers brushed against her skin the young couple momentarily felt an aura of magic envelop them. Kaya quietly watched as the blood that stained Sakura's sleeve disappeared and she guessed this applied to the wound as well. She smiled to herself. 'So the theory Ashitaka and I have is correct,' she thought.

Yugi's hands clutched the cards, trembling with excitement. "At last," he breathed. "At last, after over a decade of waiting, I finally have everything I need. I'm glad you're all still alive. Cargo would want you to see this." He began to laugh as the emerald around his neck lit up brightly. "And now, I shall take you all to the place of your demise." Black mist began to ooze from symbols that were painted around the edge of the room, until the walls, roof and floor were no longer visible. Captain Weed emerged from the mist, standing quietly behind his master.

"Not bad," said Kaya, "but I prefer it when things are black and white." She conjured up white mist with her own emerald but this was quickly swallowed up by black mist.

"I'm afraid your magic won't work here," Yugi smiled, "and it is impossible for anyone to enter or leave this place unless I undo the enchantment. So if you ever want to see daylight again you'll need to keep me alive."

"Now that's what I call good life insurance," Kaya joked.

"Alright," hissed Yugi, Kaya's relaxed and humorous attitude clearly irritating him, "If you like talking, then explain why Ashitaka told the Mirror card to stop drinking last night."

"What's there to explain?" Kaya replied.

"Why would he tell a card to stop drinking? And was it a coincidence that, just moments later, we heard you at the window?" Yugi smirked behind his mask. "I saw you give the dagger to the Mirror card after you all thought that I'd gone. You claim never to have killed unnecessarily, but you planned what happened. I think the only reason the Mirror card was drinking was so Ashitaka could tell her to stop, and that was his way of, subtly, telling you to give the Mirror card the dagger so she could try and kill Bristow."

"You're right, we did plan it," said Ashitaka calmly, "but, as you yourself just said, I gave Kaya a signal. We weren't originally thinking we would go through with the plan. But he," he spoke glaring at Bristow, while he just smirked back, "allowed our tribe to be slaughtered and I don't want to think about what will happen if he gains immortality. So even I thought it would be best if he died."

"Are those really the reasons?" asked Bristow smiling, "Are you sure it's not because I made advances on your little sister?"

"Did you really think that I would ever waste my first kiss on a creep like you," Kaya mocked, without even looking at Bristow.

Bristow's smile faded. "Enough of this pointless conversation," he said in annoyance, "Yugi kill them all so…"

"I thought I saw Jigo's men fighting alongside Iron Town's warriors and the Forest Gods," said Yugi, completely ignoring Bristow, "How did you get them to help?"

"He showed up yesterday demanding the money he says he's owed," said San, "and against my advice, Ashitaka and Kaya agreed that if Jigo helped us defeat you, he could have the credit and reward for killing Cargo."

"I didn't want the credit for that," said Kaya, "and why unnecessarily reject help?"

"I know," San muttered, "but siding with the man who had the Forest Spirit killed for gold?"

"When you find out what I'm about to do, what Jigo did will seem like nothing," laughed Yugi. "And it seems I have finally succeeded in bringing you down from heroes to a level where you would resort to bribery."

"Well you and Cargo do have that effect on people," Kaya replied sarcastically.

"And we've never been driven to kill one of our own guards," added Ashitaka.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Bristow.

"He is referring to the murder of the guard last night," smiled Yugi. "I was the one responsible."

"What? Why?" gasped Bristow, glaring at Yugi.

"I was hoping he would think Kaya was the murderer, resulting in them hating each other more. That's why I did it recklessly, to make it look like it was done in anger. Oh well," he giggled, "the plan didn't work but at least I had some fun."

"Just kill them so we can rule this world," shouted Bristow.

Although it was hidden by his mask, an evil grin formed on Yugi's lips. "Neither of us will be ruling anything. You don't even have long to live."

Bristow took a step back in shock while Captain Weed sniggered, "Master Yugi has a different plan for the cards than the one you're aware of and part of it involves killing you."

"You know it's funny," smirked Kaya, "you said this conversation was pointless, but it looks like as soon as it finishes, Yugi will kill you and with my magic out of commission, there's nothing I can do to help you even if I wanted to."

"Why you!" Bristow hissed, drawing his sword, "you'll all pay." But as he spoke the black mist swirled around his blade and then disappeared, taking the sword with it.

"I should have mentioned," began Yugi, "along with stopping your magic tricks, the black mist will also absorb any weapon I choose. In other words, you're all completely defenceless!"

"You tricked me!" screamed Bristow. "You promised me immortality!"

"And for being stupid enough to believe that promise you deserve to perish," laughed Yugi, "As Ashitaka tried to warn you yesterday, immortality does not exist. Even the forest gods do not possess it, so how did you expect me to give you eternal life?"

Kaya looked at Bristow. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't accept your offer," she smirked before turning back to Yugi.

Bristow glanced at his index finger and found, to his delight, that the deadly sharp metal was still attached. He knew he was as good as dead, but the last thing he did before dying would be to slit Kaya's throat for mocking him. He slowly crept up behind her.

Yugi now had three cards in his hand, the third being the Twin card. "Now prepare to witness the start of the extinction of all intelligent life on this planet."

"But those cards don't have that kind of power," exclaimed Sakura.

"Yeah," agreed Syaoran, who still had his arm around Sakura, "only the four elements are capable of that."

"The element cards would destroy the _entire world_ ; I only want to destroy its inhabitants." He saw Bristow sneaking up on Kaya and could tell by the way she tensed that she was also aware of this. "First things first," Yugi smiled and threw an energy ball at Kaya. Bristow's hand came up to Kaya's neck just as she ducked down, resulting in the ball hitting Bristow, exactly as Yugi had hoped. There were a few moments of Bristow screaming before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"And pop goes the weasel," Kaya muttered as she stood up straight again.

Ignoring her, Yugi tossed the three cards in the air. The Light and Dark cards floated motionless, while the Twin card spun around rapidly. Translucent black mist surrounded the three cards. Then a white line appeared on the bottom of the Light card and slowly began to move its way upwards, the appearance of the card changing as the line passed over it.

"I'm sure you're aware that the Light and Dark cards are two of the most powerful Sakura cards, but do you know why?" When he received no answer, he went on. "It's because Light represents the good emotions, most notably love, and Dark represents the bad emotions, most notably hate. I will use the Twin card to create a copy of the Dark card and the copy will take the place of the Light card. As a result, love will be no more."

"I've seen what the world will be like without love," said Sakura, "It wasn't pretty."

"What you saw was nothing," sniggered Yugi, "I'm not getting rid of Light; I'm transforming it into Dark. All the good emotions will be converted into their bad equivalent. There will be nothing but hate, which will lead to a war that will be the end of everyone. That's why my victory had to occur now. Allies will turn on each other, so I needed all those loyal to me dead." He then gestured to Captain Weed. "Except him, since my magic keeps him from betraying me. Then, when the war is over, there can be peace and the world will regrow into the beautiful place it once was."

"That last part does sound nice," Said Kaya, "but what's the point if there's nobody left to enjoy it?"

"I'll be left," replied Yugi, "I will go through time to when the world has regrown and finally I will have a place where I can be alone." By this point the transformation was halfway to completion. "Now though, I get a front row seat to watch you turn on each other."

Sakura moved forward to retrieve her wand but the mist absorbed it and then did the same to Syaoran's sword. "And now for my finale," smiled Yugi, raising his hand so his palm faced Sakura. "I promised Sakura wouldn't be hurt, so I will make sure her death is quick and _painless_." Some of the mist became rope and rapped itself around Sakura's ankles so she couldn't escape. Syaoran ran to Sakura as Yugi fired an energy ball at her. The last thing the others saw was Syaoran pulling Sakura into an embrace before they were consumed by smoke. "Pop goes the weasel."

"Not exactly," smiled Ashitaka.

"Yeah," grinned Kaya, "this time the weasel didn't pop."

"What," frowned Yugi, then his eyes widened as the smoke cleared to reveal Syaoran and Sakura were unharmed and now glowing; Sakura pink, Syaoran green.

"Wow," they both exclaimed, gazing at each other in awe. Their lips met briefly in a soft kiss.

As they glowed, the mist around them quickly began to dissolve. "How?" hissed Yugi, "I thought you couldn't use your magic without your wand and sword."

"It used to be that way," said Ashitaka. "Thanks to Cargo's tricks they found out what it would be like to lose each other and their desire not to let that happen again allowed them to unlock the true magic within them."

"Love was the key," said Kaya, "The key to victory."

"It doesn't matter," said Yugi, gesturing to the three cards floating in the air. "The transformation is moments from completion."

"And that's my cue," laughed Kaya. She pulled the light emerald from around her neck and threw it at the Twin card. When the emerald struck the card there was a flash of white light and then the three cards floated into Sakura's hand, the Light and Twin cards now back to normal.

"It can't be," Yugi gasped in disbelief.

"Oh and one more thing," smiled Kaya, "I used all the emeralds energy to turn the Twin card back into a Sakura card, so it ceased to be. And as the dark emerald cannot exist without the light emerald, it disappeared to."

Yugi's hand came up to his chest and found the emerald gone. "You've forced my hand," said Yugi, his voice shook with hate, "I'll have to kill you all myself."

"Give it up, it's all over now," said Ashitaka.

Yugi looked over his shoulder and San, who had been moving towards him, abruptly stopped. "The five of you and those other two brats will come to the pool of the Forest Spirit at sundown." He jerked his thumb at Captain Weed. "And bring him along too. And if any of you are absent or anyone extra is brought along, I promise the entire forest will be burnt to the ground." He threw something to the ground which burst into flash of light, momentarily blinding everyone and when it died down Yugi was gone.

Despite the situation, Kaya couldn't help but say, "I think that flash gave me red-eye." The others sweat dropped.

To Be Concluded…


	12. Chapter 12: The End

War for Peace

Chapter 12: The End

"What is it that you're not telling me?" asked San, glaring at her friend.

"I really don't know what you mean," replied Kaya, smiling innocently.

The group of three teens and four preteens, along with Captain Weed, were currently waiting at the pool of the Forest Spirit. Captain Weed had his hands bound by rope.

At Iron Town the assassins had found themselves outnumbered and outmatched so it hadn't been long before they had surrendered. Those that weren't killed had been arrested. Now though, San was 'interrogating' Kaya.

"You said there were 'reasons I was unaware of.' What are they?" San demanded.

"I'm not going to tell you," smiled Kaya.

"Kaya, I order you to tell us," said Ashitaka firmly.

His sister placed her hands over her ears. "I can't hear you," she sang.

"Is it something to do with why she's been unwell," asked Ashitaka. Kaya nodded, a grin still plastered on her lips.

"I thought you knew something about that," scowled San, "Why won't you say what's wrong with me?"

"I don't want you to worry about it."

"I already am."

"Yes, but you'd worry even more if I told you."

"Kaya, could you just tell us," said Ashitaka, clearly losing patience.

"No."

"Perhaps we should plan what we're going to do when Yugi gets here," suggested Syaoran.

"How can we plan?" said Sakura, "We don't even know what he looks like."

"Of course you know what he looks like," chirped Captain Weed, getting everyone's attention, "If you'd never seen his face, why would he wear that mask and disguise his voice?"

Right on cue Yugi dropped down from the branches above them. He knocked Sakura and Syaoran out by elbowing them in the back of the neck. He then grabbed Kaya and dragged her over to the pool, a dagger at her throat. This was all done in a matter of seconds. He'd changed his outfit to one that was black with no armour but his red hood and wooden mask remained.

One of the flowers on Captain Weeds head spun like a drill and cut through the rope around his hands. "Enjoy your fate," he laughed as he scuttled off.

"You ruined my plans," he hissed, "so now it's time for the pièce de résistance."

"Sacré bleu," Kaya muttered.

"Alright Yugi," said Ashitaka, "If you let my sister go, perhaps we can work something out."

"I really doubt that. Anyway, I don't intend on letting any of you go. You will _all_ die here!"

"You think you can scare me with your words?" said Kaya, "You surrounded us with your mist and I was unshaken. Why would…" she was interrupted by Yugi's laugher.

"My presence alone was able to make you shudder and I have faith that it can do so again," smiled Yugi, pulling his cloak over his head.

"When did your presence…" Kaya stopped as she saw the horror and shock appear on her friend's faces. "Oh no, no, no," the young princess gasped, realising who it was holding a dagger to her neck and that it was the colour of his hair that the others had noticed.

"Back from the dead," he laughed, finally showing them his face, "I'm Cargo."

"No way," said Ashitaka in disbelief, "Coming back to life is beyond even you."

"Yeah, how can you be here?" Kaya whimpered, her head slumping forward, "I killed you." She choked out the last syllable, her calmness and confidence from moments ago had evaporated.

"You thought killing me would be that easy?" he smiled, "I created a copy of myself using the Twin card. I even used my magic to make him think he was the original me. It was him you were fighting since my latest return. I wanted to give you the illusion that you were finally done with me."

"You never get tired of playing games with us, do you," San hissed.

"Why would I? After all, it's so much fun," giggled Cargo. As he said this, Kaya's shoulders started to shake. For a moment Cargo thought she was quivering in anger, but then he realised. "Oh my, my. I seem to have reduced her to tears."

"It wasn't supposed to end this way," Kaya sobbed.

"Well it is," replied Cargo as he stabbed her in the back. He pulled her around so she was forced to look into his eyes one last time. "The end," he taunted, stabbing her in the side and she toppled to the ground.

In moments Cargo was upon Ashitaka and San. They barely had time to draw their weapons before they were subjected to Cargo's merciless barrage of attacks. Meiling and Tomoyo ran and hid behind a tree. Tomoyo then took out her camera and began to film the ongoing duel.

Ashitaka and San used all of their new skills and techniques; they even threw in some acrobatic moves, but still found themselves outmatched. They couldn't fight in sync so Cargo was able to dominate them and, without his armour, he could use strength and speed greater than before.

Cargo swiftly kicked Ashitaka in his gut and then punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He turned and used his blade to send San's sword flying out of her hands. He proceeded to swipe at her with his blade until he had her backed up against a tree, leaving her with no choice but to scramble up the trunk.

San pulled herself onto a branch and ran down it, only to realise that she was now balancing directing over the water. She prepared to jump onto the next branch but Cargo grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. It was her turn to look into his eyes. "Going down," he smiled, taking hold of her other shoulder and sending her, along with himself, toppling into the water.

Kaya heard the splash and let her face mesh into the grass. "So this is how it ends," she groaned, utterly defeated.

"It's not over yet," whispered a voice.

Underwater, Cargo punched San's gut, causing her to gasp out most of the air in her lungs. She tried to swim to the surface but Cargo held her down until she inhaled water. He then just watched as she began to writhe.

As he believed it was the end for her, it came as quite a shock when a blue outline surrounded the girl and lifted her out of the water. "What?" he shouted. Only when he saw the air rushing passed his eyes, did he realise he had spoken out loud. He hurriedly swam to the surface.

He made his way out of the pool, watching San lying near the edge of the clearing as she choked up water. Once she had expelled the liquid from her lungs she slumped to the ground unconscious.

"How can he not be short of breath after being underwater all that time?" said Meiling, marvelling at the assassin.

"What else would you expect from the finest swordsman in the land?" smirked Cargo before turning to Ashitaka, who, now that his head had stopped spinning, was getting to his feet. "It looks like you're the only one left to fight me." Cargo rapidly moved forwards and the two resumed their duel.

Cargo's strikes were so brilliant and perfectly timed that in moments Ashitaka found himself incapable of fighting back. When his sword was knocked away, he barely had time to bring it back to intercept the next blow. "Just so you know," said Cargo as they continued their bout, "Once I've killed you, I will torture Syaoran and Sakura and make them tell me where you've hidden the black orb and use that to execute my plan. So I'm afraid you're efforts to stop me will have been pointless."

"If your goal is to bring peace," shouted Ashitaka, "then why not use the cards to remove hate?"

"Because you cannot permanently remove love or hate as long as there are people to feel them," he replied. "It might take a long time but hate would return to people's hearts. That's why my way is the only way to ensure peace is retained even after I'm gone."

"You're insane," Ashitaka cried, "why do you believe it is impossible for people to live in peace."

"You'd have to have been locked in a cave and forced to kill your own mother to understand," Cargo hissed. He whacked Ashitaka's blade out of his hand and then pinned him up against a tree using his free hand. Finally it was Ashitaka who looked into his black orbs.

Something struck Cargo hard in his side, although he scarcely flinched. He released Ashitaka and turned to glare at Meiling. "Trying to be heroic?" he spat at her. He then brought his foot up behind him and kicked the dagger out of Ashitaka's hand, sending it spinning into the air. He turned back to Ashitaka and threw him back up against the tree, this time by his throat. "No one tries to stab me in the back and gets away with it," he smiled and his fingers started to choke the prince.

Behind him, the dagger landed in Meiling's hand. Almost without thinking, she stabbed Cargo in the shoulder. He howled in pain and, letting go of Ashitaka, spun around attempting to slice Meiling's head off. Fortunately, Meiling had already ducked, anticipating that, fairly obvious, response.

She wasn't able to avoid Cargo's second response, which was to kick her in the face, sending her sprawling on the ground. Next Cargo attempted to divide Ashitaka with his blade. The young prince moved away and managed to avoid being killed but still received a deep gash in his arm. He fell and Cargo stood over him.

The assassin reached up and pulled the dagger out of his flesh. "That hurt," he said, placing the dagger on his belt, "but the pain will be nothing compared to yours."

He raised his sword in the air, with every intention of finishing the battle. Unfortunately for him, his luck had finally run out. A sharp object slammed into his back. He jerked forwards and dropped his sword. He and Ashitaka both turned to see who was responsible.

It had been San who had thrown the dagger. She, along with Kaya, were back on their feet, the injuries Cargo had inflicted on them had vanished. The preteens were also getting back up, but it was the new figure standing next to Kaya that Cargo was staring at. "Cress," he gasped, "How can you have survived me slashing your gut?"

"I didn't," Cress replied, "but even in the afterlife the Forest Spirit was able to bring me back so I could undo the wrongs I caused."

"Could you have 'undone' the wrongs any closer to the wire," Kaya sarcastically responded.

"It takes time to resurrect someone," said Cress, placing his hand on his right eye and found that it had at last been restored, "I couldn't heal you until I had been brought back. Be thankful I was able to save San."

Ashitaka got to his feet, picking up his sword, while Cargo futilely tried to pull the dagger from his back. "I will ask you nicely to put the sword down," said Cargo, leaving the dagger where it was, despite the pain.

Ashitaka thought of all the people Cargo had hurt, the way he had tricked them and how he had stabbed Kaya and tried to drown San. He raised his sword, wanting it all to be over.

"Now I will ask you _not_ so nicely to put the sword down," said a voice. Everyone except Cargo, who just smiled, turned to where the voice had come from. They saw Captain Weed with one leaf like hand around Tomoyo's arm and the other clasping her camera. One of his flowers was spinning like a drill, dangerously close to her throat.

"I'd forgotten about him," said Kaya, "which is surprising given that he looks like that."

The creature tossed Tomoyo's camera into the water. "My camera," Tomoyo moaned.

"Thank you," Sakura and Syaoran whispered together.

"Drop the sword or the girl dies." Cargo spoke through clenched teeth, trying to hide the pain he was in.

Ashitaka threw his sword to the ground while Cargo moved behind him, pressing a dagger into his back.

San, Cress and the preteens watched uneasily but Kaya seemed calm. In fact, now that Cargo couldn't see his face, even Ashitaka seemed to have relaxed. Kaya had been lying when saying she'd forgotten about the Captain. The siblings had anticipated this. Why else would Cargo have told them to bring Captain Weed here? Kaya hid a blade behind her back as she watched her brother slowly pull a dagger from Cargo's belt. Normally Cargo would notice this but his wounds had greatly weakened him and Captain Weed was too busy taunting Tomoyo to see what was going on.

As his blood stained his sleeve, Cargo noted that perhaps he shouldn't have removed the knife from his shoulder. He also realised that the end was near when his vision started to blur.

While his vision deteriorated, memories that had been obscured started to come into focus. He smiled at the memories of his mother; it had been so long since he was able to remember her from before being locked in that cave.

He was only able to enjoy them for a few moments. Ashitaka brought his dagger up at the same time Kaya threw hers. They both hit their mark. Cargo fell back, while Captain Weed dissolved into mist, which dissolved into nothing.

As Cargo's body hit the ground, a small boy appeared in the clearing, although, nobody could see him. The boy, about the age of nine, looked around. "Where am I?"

"Cargo," whispered a soft voice.

The boy turned around. "Mama," he cried happily, running into her arms. The two spirits disappeared to the afterlife, where they could be together again at last.

Cress walked over to Ashitaka and healed his wounds. "Well I can be going now that I've fixed my mistakes," he smiled, as he started to fade away. "My reward is to be with my family again." Then he vanished completed.

Kaya walked over to San, a mischievous grin on her. Cress had fully restored Kaya's appearance to how it had been a week ago, any trace of the damage the emerald had caused was gone. "Now that it's all over, should I tell you the secret I've been hiding or should I continue to torment you?"

San glared at her. "If you don't tell me right now, I will hang you upside down from the nearest tree."

Kaya just smiled back. "I'd _really_ liked to see you try," she sniggered.

"I'd help her out," said Ashitaka, walking over and standing next to San.

"No fair," Kaya scowled, but then smiled. "Alright I'll tell you. You've not been unwell San, you're pregnant."

"What?" exclaimed Ashitaka and San in unison.

"Morning sickness, hot flushes, it all adds up," Kaya giggled.

Ashitaka and San looked at each other in shock as the news sunk in. Then their expressions filled with joy. Ashitaka put his arm around his love and kissed her in celebration. Sakura and Syaoran kissed as well while Kaya, Tomoyo and Meiling smiled at the happy ending.

The End


End file.
